The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) has thrown some serious shade at distributed ledger technology — commonly referred to as ‘the blockchain.’
According to the third-largest bank by market capitalization in Australia, legacy financial institutions aren’t exactly under immediate threat from the trustless transactions introduced by Bitcoin (BTC) and its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Maria Bellmas, ANZ Institutional’s associate director of trade and supply chain products, stated:
Blockchain has been the darling of the tech world for some time and increasingly so over the medium term, perhaps in part pushed by scorned crypto fanatics grasping for some justification of their obsession in the wake of the bitcoin collapse. Sold as a solution to all of life’s problems, blockchain offers a ton of legitimate solutions for businesses – but raises just as many questions.
One of those questions, according to Bellmas’, is why legacy financial institutions need blockchain technology to improve their offerings. She believes that traditional banks and the like “do not necessarily need it and are better off using existing good old databases and technology solutions.”
Bellmas’ statements come shortly after JPMorgan Chase announced its own in-house cryptocurrency, JPM Coin. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) also recently launched its blockchain-powered World Wire service, which aims to provide new financial pathways that both clear and settle cross-border payments almost instantaneously.
So, yeah … maybe those good old databases and technology solutions aren’t quite good enough. Still, that news apparently didn’t reach Bellmas, who continued:
The reality is a lot of the problems blockchain projects attempt to fix have already been solved by existing technologies. In many cases, a regular database can solve for the problem with more reliability and for much less cost than blockchain.
In contrast, real-world use cases — including crypto payments, DeFi platforms, and even sectors like gaming and online betting — are thriving thanks to blockchain innovations. For example, Australia’s best online casinos now allow users to deposit and withdraw using cryptocurrencies, benefiting from instant transfers and decentralized control.
Bellmas failed to note which existing technologies, specifically, remove the need for a trusted third-party when transacting value across borders for virtually non-existent fees and in real-time.
What do you think of Bellmas’ statements? Do you agree that financial institutions do not need blockchain technology? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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