Tech darling blockchain has been having something of a moment. Throughout 2016, thought leaders across industries have explored numerous blockchain use cases. TMG and its strategic partner CO-OP Financial Services, for example, engaged Mercator Advisory Services to develop a strategic decision framework for financial institutions (FIs) considering applications of the emerging digital ledger technology.
At the 2016 Money 20/20 event in Las Vegas, several noteworthy blockchain uses were announced, including:
- Visa and Chain’s partnership to enable global B2B payments – Visa B2B Connect, a new platform under development, will offer fast, secure payments to both financial institutions and companies via a private blockchain.
- Overstock’s plans to sell stock shares over blockchain – Technology-based retail company Overstock has started up a blockchain-based trading company, t0. Selling preferred stock will be the first use case for this platform.
- Civic’s announcement of a new identity verification platform – Digital identity protection startup Civic plans to offer those who sign up for its services a new way to control how their identity credentials are used online. This new identity verification platform lets users provide Civic with personal information and use that information to log into participating third-party websites.
- Fluent’s partnership with Allianz to offer credit insurance – Blockchain startup Fluent has its own business-to-business marketplace for working capital solutions. By partnering with credit insurance provider Allianz, Fluent will be able to deliver credit insurance within its marketplace.
More recently, Walmart and IBM have gotten press for incorporating blockchains into their business models. With each announcement of a new, innovative use for digital ledger technology, blockchain once again takes the spotlight. This in turn demonstrates the many opportunities the digital ledger technology has to solve particular business problems. Stay tuned as TMG assists community FIs in studying the applicability of blockchain.
