Digital Asset CEO: Banks will adopt blockchain technology within 2 years, but it will take 5 to 10 years to become mainstream

Blythe Masters , a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive who is now CEO of blockchain firm Digital Asset Holdings, said blockchain technology — the underlying technology for bitcoin — will be available to financial services firms within two years, but it will take longer to go mainstream.

During the Money 2020 conference in Copenhagen, Masters, who is credited with leading the development of credit default swaps and now at the helm of Digital Asset, told CNBC that blockchain deployment is coming.

She said on Tuesday:

“I think we will see blockchain technology deployed in various forms in commercial environments in the next year or two. However, this does not mean that blockchain technology will become mainstream at the same time. I think it will take 5 to 10 years for blockchain technology to become mainstream.”

Blockchain technology is the underlying technology of Bitcoin. For Bitcoin, blockchain is like a huge decentralized ledger that records every transaction and stores these transaction information on a global network that cannot be tampered with. Banks believe that this technology can be used for everything from remittances to securities trading.

Digital Asset is currently developing blockchain technology that banks can use. Earlier this year, the company formed a partnership with JPMorgan Chase to explore blockchain technology.

However, Digital Asset is not the only company working with large financial institutions. R3 brings together many of the world’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, to research and deliver new financial technologies. This week, R3 also reached a partnership agreement with Microsoft to further develop use cases for technologies like blockchain.

Earlier this year, R3 trialed a method for trading fixed-income assets using blockchain, while Nasdaq similarly trialed a scheme that would allow Estonian residents to vote at shareholder meetings even when they are abroad.

Key regulators and central banks have recognized the potential of blockchain, but there are still many challenges to its widespread adoption.

“There are three factors to consider. First, regulatory uncertainty. Second, there are still challenges in building network effects. Third, there is the issue of establishing common standards. With common standards, early technology adopters don’t have to worry about the risk that they might accidentally choose the equivalent of a betamax solution when in fact everyone else has chosen a VHS solution.”

Blythe Masters

According to Masters, some of the skeptics of blockchain technology have something to do with bitcoin, but there is reason to be optimistic.

“Regulators are not unequivocally supportive of the concept. They recognize that blockchain technology can bring benefits to them as long as it is pursued responsibly.”

Original: http://www.cnbc.com
By Seamus Conwell
Compiled by: Kyle
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/blockchain-in-banks-a-reality)