DAH boss: Australia may see 'world's first successful blockchain project'

Former JPMorgan executive Blythe Masters said Australia could be well positioned to take a leading position in the distributed ledger industry, speaking at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) annual forum in Sydney on Tuesday.

Australia leads the blockchain revolution

Masters believes that Australia will become one of the leaders in the distributed ledger ecosystem because of blockchain innovations such as the ASX platform. The AFR reported that for Masters and many investors, the significance of this emerging technology is very significant. She explained:

“(Distributed ledger technology) is probably the most important idea I’ve come across in 30 years.”

Masters said the ASX platform has the potential to become "the world's first successful blockchain project." In Masters' view, one of the most beneficial aspects of blockchain technology is that it can reduce billions of dollars in transaction costs in the equity trading market. With blockchain as a protocol processor, exchanges can become more efficient.

“For the (securities) industry, blockchain technology fills a huge need,” Masters asserted. “Companies are under tremendous pressure to fundamentally rethink their business models. We are not talking about saving 5%, 10%, 15% of costs. We are talking about saving 50%, 60%, 70% of costs.”

In addition, Australian banks are also enthusiastic about the potential of blockchain in terms of cost savings and security. Annabel Spring, CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group, told the public:

“As we explore the possibilities of blockchain, it can transform our operational costs and its security, and in the long term make the huge back-office reconciliation process of securities trading more economical, which is a great opportunity for us,” she said.

Prepare for a rainy day

Earlier this week, the Australian government proposed a regulatory and tax policy plan for financial technology. In the report titled "Australia's Fintech Priorities", the Australian government will work with the entire blockchain industry to improve the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law to apply to digital currencies.

At the forum, Spring pointed out that universal standards will be a key challenge facing blockchain technology, but financial institutions and governments can overcome these difficulties. "People will work together to develop these open source standards, so all financial institutions and governments can use the same standards to communicate with each other," she said during her panel speech.

Original article: https://news.bitcoin.com/australia-first-successful-blockchain-project/
Author: jamieredman
Translator: Overnight porridge
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/australia-blockchain-project)