Scotland plans to establish itself as a hub for blockchain future

Rage Comment : Scotland has unique advantages in terms of technical resources, professional talents, and policies and regulations, so it has positive significance for the development of blockchain technology. Scotland will also continue to accumulate technology growth momentum and technology application cases, create a good technology development environment, attract blockchain start-ups, and build itself into a global blockchain development center.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Scotland is a country rich in tradition, known for its bagpipes, kilts, golf courses and fine whiskey. It is also fast becoming a hotbed for the rapid development of blockchain technology, providing innovative solutions for world commerce and trade that are highly transformative and world-renowned.

The Scottish blockchain community has been buoyed by activity and buzz in recent months. In fact, the pace of progress is accelerating, leading to meaningful use cases and promising business solutions.

SCOTEX, a blockchain-based stock exchange set to launch this year, is the largest and most controversial example of the technology in Scotland. A coalition of former Nasdaq and Scottish investors is hoping to raise more than $18.4 million for the project, which could become the country’s first independent exchange since the early 1970s.

By integrating blockchain technology, SCOTEX will achieve instant settlement of all transactions, eliminating the reliance on expensive clearing houses. Stakeholders are expected to complete settlement within 15 minutes of trade execution, which may take two or three days in conventional financial transactions.

The application of blockchain technology in existing stock exchanges is not new. Exchanges such as the Australian Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have already created a blockchain-based trade settlement system, which can serve as a model.

However, SCOTEX is unique in that it will be the first stock exchange to adopt distributed ledger technology from the outset. This will make it an opportunity to test the long-term viability of blockchain and its impact on global finance.

Another signal of Scotland’s interest in the blockchain space was the ScotChain16 conference in Edinburgh in November 2016. The event brought together business leaders and entrepreneurial blockchain enthusiasts from around the world. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which hosted the event, was one of 36 banks around the world testing the use of blockchain in commercial paper transactions.

Exploring blockchain technology

Scottish startups are also actively exploring blockchain use cases. A new entrant in this space is a digital design consultancy called Flockchain. Founded in May 2016 in Glasgow, the company helps public and private organizations integrate blockchain technology into their user experience design, cybersecurity, and strategic goals.

CEO and co-founder Phil Doyle said Flockchain's initial focus was on technology and market research aimed at identifying strong blockchain use cases in various markets. He said Flockchain was founded in May 2016 after he and co-founder David Kidd discussed the merits of blockchain and distributed ledger technology for several weeks and read all the materials they could get their hands on. Inspired by the potential of blockchain, they decided to implement a strategy to promote awareness of the technology while improving the industry's position.

Doyle said:

“We are working to accelerate blockchain adoption through training programs that provide a path for technology developers to enter the field, collaborate with governments and businesses, demonstrate value, and stimulate purchases. Flockchain is pleased to form strategic partnerships with major organizations to address these challenges.”

Doyle described the blockchain community as very active and eager to explore new possibilities. “We ourselves started attending the Scottish Blockchain Meetup which happens monthly in Edinburgh and there are a lot of great projects and startups there.”

He also said that there was a lot of communication with the UK. "We were actually looking at the development of blockchain in the UK and found that the market lacked the technology that would drive many blockchain projects. There was also a general lack of awareness of blockchain and how it could change businesses and governments."

One bright spot for Scotland, Doyle said, is that the government’s policy structure when it comes to new technologies is progressive. With the country’s highly developed technology sector beginning to focus on the Internet of Things (IoT) and data science, blockchain will fit in well with that trend.

Paul Forrest

Paul Forrest, president of Glasgow-based MBN Solutions, a leading HR solution for recruitment and search companies in blockchain and other industries, said the technology is high on the agenda for Scotland’s business and technology community. He said the interest is not limited to use cases and applications in and around financial technology. “We have seen start-ups from the healthcare sector and legal sectors setting up companies in Scotland, exploring how to take advantage of Scotland’s mature technology and the large number of technical personnel, data and cryptographic security expertise.”

In 2017 he saw a number of start-ups capitalising on Scotland’s strengths in data science and healthcare, and based on activity announced by the country’s financial services giants, further progress can be expected in payments and identity management.

Forrest concluded:

“The key to Scotland becoming a centre of excellence in blockchain is to continue to develop use cases and foster continued growth in capability. Bringing these two pillars together will create a rich technology environment, placing Scotland at the heart of the future of blockchain.”