Blockchain in FinTech — Investor’s View
As the inflated expectations around blockchain technology have retraced back to the realistic development around it, we stride forward towards reaching the plateau of productivity in realizing the true power of Blockchain Technology.
Thus far, blockchain has been the largest crowdfunding exercise in history. A blend of VC funding & IPO but yet a standalone entity with its own quality embedded, ICOs have been garnering the required capital for blockchain companies to produce blockchain enabled solutions.
FinTech companies create an ecosystem that fosters the collection of vast amounts of data and builds trusted relationships with clientele. Financial Institutions have realised the importance of these ecosystems and are attempting to engage with and bring innovation inside their companies.FinTech solutions on the other hand are exploring various possibilities of incorporating blockchain technology in its core in order to stay ahead in the curve of financial revolution.
Legend believes this century to be of Financial Revolution and blockchain enabled fintech is the way forward to achieve this.
FinTech companies are driving market changes by focusing on emergent technologies that will provide a renewed experience for their customers. One specific technology is Blockchain. The most likely business use cases of blockchain, as seen by 55% of respondents, is in Payments Infrastructure, followed by Fund Transfer Infrastructure (50%), and Digital Identity Management (46%). In fact, the latter is being explored as a possible area of blockchain use by various government services. We have also witnessed growing interest in the technology from insurance companies in areas such as personal and marine insurance, including claims processes.
Though the coherent system in Blockchain-FinTech is yet to be put in place, there are several nations across the world who’ve embraced this evolving technology. Let’s have look on the top three countries leading the race of Blockchain — FinTech startups.
Singapore
Popularly known as the financial hub of the world, it is of no surprise that Singapore is the global innovation leader in the Blockchain-FinTech space.
The third largest ICO market in the world, Singapore, is an early advocate of blockchain technology and crypto. Singapore’s strategic position is to let the crypto market grow with minimal intervention, provided that crypto market does not qualify as regulated market and, hence, fall under existing financial markets and securities regulations. If the latter is the case, the company may be subject to full blown regulatory regime set forth by MAS (as for any other Fintech business). It would nevertheless be slightly cheaper to step up a fully compliant business in Singapore compared to Europe.
Gibraltar
An early advocate of crypto — Gibraltar is popularly known as ‘the crypto-harbour’. Earlier this year, the government started drafting legislation to regulate ICOs.
As a result, Gibraltar has already attracted a lot of cryptocurrency exchanges, among them BTCC, CEX and eToro. This spring the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) successfully completed its Rock Token sale. There are multiple applications for a DLT license at Gibraltar at the moment, and more than 200 applications for an ICO to hold at GBX. Gibraltar is a home to gambling, insurance and fintech companies, a mix that promises to keep the nation ahead in the technology curve.
Malta
The ‘Blockchain Island’, Malta is producing comprehensive law drafts to regulate the Blockchain Market. This has attracted major crypto businesses like Binance & OKex. Malta’s Parliamentary Secretary stated, “Malta has become a natural point of reference on the international sphere and companies such as Binance will continue to look into Malta to further expand their operations or establish a base.”
If you’re keen to find out more, the upcoming Malta Blockchain Summit runs from November 1–2 and spans four conferences hosted over two days.
As Forbes reports, these are top three Blockchain companies, bringing innovative solutions to transform the world. These companies have garnered worldwide trust and following amidst the turbulent sea of uncertainty regarding crypto regulations.
The Bitfury Group, Amsterdam
Produces both hardware and software for Bitcoin mining and security, as well as a wide range of software to support blockchains in government, supply chains and insurance.
Blockchain, London.
World’s most popular cryptocurrency wallet, enabling users to manage private keys for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether. Its Expansion to U.S. now allows crypto trading in 22 states, including California.
Chain, San Francisco
Offers blockchain technology for financial institutions, as well as ledger balance software for fintech and ecommerce companies
In India, the stellar growth Blockchain Technology has sprung a new breed of blockchain startups across the nation. While many who have been early adopters, are now incubating this growing breed believe blockchain to be as revolutionary as the internet. Top Indian companies who’ve also made considerable footprints worldwide in the blockchain domain are:
Auxesis Group
Auxesis Group, world’s leading blockchain company who is closely working with several Indian state governments to incorporate Blockchain enabled solutions in various sectors including EHR, Land Records, Supply Chain, Invoice Financing among others. They are progressively building a platform, Auxledger, which brings the next generation features of Customization and cross-chain communication enabling Blockchain in mainstream enterprise adoption.
CoinSecure
Coinsecure is one of the early movers of Bitcoin and blockchain technology in India. They provide an easy to use Bitcoin exchange, merchant services, a blockchain explorer, as well as a hosted wallet. They have a simple and single motto of “Connecting India to Bitcoin”. They seem to be doing just that and show no signs of stopping.
Trestor
Trestor is an India’s first blockchain startup, which has created “Trest” a secure, digital, store of value. Using the power of Trestor’s blockchain and their decentralised network of trustless nodes ‘Trests’ can be transferred directly from person to person anywhere across the globe.
These are early days yet, with blockchain still in an exploratory phase.
It’s the startups of today that will give rise to the solutions of tomorrow, and for the second time in one generation, we have the opportunity to watch an industry growth everest north — Industrial Revolution 2.0, enabled by Blockchain.
