BBVA

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), including blockchains, are increasingly getting a massive interest from established industries. The interest is especially strong among financial services firms, which are starting to see DLTs as a potential driver of huge savings in infrastructure and back-office processes. Besides, DLTs might become a facilitator for the development of new digital businesses leading to new sources of revenue. However, DLTs are still far from being ready for mass adoption, due to some unsolved challenges on the technological, operational, business and regulatory sides.

The materialisation of contracts capable of enforcing themselves is now facilitated by blockchain technologies. The ability of smart contracts to alter the way in which many traditional processes are performed is potentially immense. However, standardisation and wider adoption of the blockchain is needed to turn this potential into reality.

Blockchain ledgers bypasses centralized financial infrastructure. This leads to the development of new businesses and the overhaul of existing ones. For the financial sector it could imply the biggest disruption to date