Blockchain will be adopted for post-trade services within three to five years, according to nearly half of professionals surveyed by an industry body whose membership includes custodian banks.
Some 29% of members of the Post-Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group that were surveyed even said blockchain could be adopted in as little as the next one to two years, though 21% forecasted it will take in excess of five years.
The PTDL Group includes banks, custodians and clearers, and it involves State Street, HSBC and Euroclear, among other firms.
The top three benefits of distributed ledger technology that were voted for were operational cost savings, increased efficiency/reduced settlement cycles, and transparency.
A fifth of respondents said that the strategic importance of blockchain within their own organisation was ‘very high’, with an additional 34% saying it was ‘high’.
Jörn Tobias, managing director at State Street and member of the PTDL Group, said: “The survey shows that blockchain could become mainstream in just a couple of years, with benefits such as better transparency, shorter settlement cycles and cost savings clearly identified by our members.
“The big barrier to growth, however, is seen as caution: fears over adoption and hesitation about embracing what remains cutting-edge technology.”
In total, 45 senior executives responsible for developing blockchain strategies took part in the survey.
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