This week’s piece by Chris DeRose on the future of Blockchain (DeRose, 2017), as it applies to the Finance sector, paints a dark picture with respect to where it’s headed. DeRose feels that the aggressive growth business models of Silicon Valley startups combined with the slow risk adverse stalwarts of the Financial Institution market are just not made for each other. He feels the venture capitalist (VC’s) will eventually abandon these companies as they fail to produce in the normal profit horizon for these startups. His reasoning points to the fact that the Blockchain buzz, after originally starting its run in 2015, fizzled out, but now in 2017 is trying a makeover with the ‘DLT’ (Distributed Ledger Technology) moniker, but the underlying technology in this space just lacks value.
I’m not blind to the reality of the divergent business models, but instead am looking at the big players that are experimenting with the technology – the IBM’s, Oracles, Big 4 Consulting Firms, Microsoft, and see a different angle over the long-term. Maybe it’s not necessarily going to take off in the Finance sector, but it’s the other applications for Blockchain that I think will advance – namely Health, Consumer, and government. Once these big players, using their deep R&D budgets, can agree on standards, I think we’ll see a turnaround, and the VC’s will come running back to get behind the startups. Stay tuned.
DeRose, C. (2017, March 5). The Trouble With Fintech (Or Why “Now’ is the Time for DLT). Retrieved from www.coindesk.com: http://www.coindesk.com/the-trouble-with-fintech-and-why-now-is-the-time-for-dlt/