Former Google engineer develops blockchain-based operating system for banks

Rage Review : The blockchain industry has predicted that blockchain will become the next generation of Google. Whether or not this will come true, blockchain and the Internet are clearly a match made in heaven. A former Google engineer has started his own company to develop a new blockchain-based operating system for the banking industry. Perhaps combined with his own expertise and experience in Internet technology, he can bring more applicable applications to banks. Currently, ten banks have reached cooperation with him, and one of them has been confirmed to participate in system testing. Translation: Annie_Xu

A Google speech recognition software has been used in more than a billion Android phones, but now its developer has left Google and founded his own company to build a new operating system for banks using blockchain.

Paul Taylor is a professor at Cambridge University. His expertise lies in artificial intelligence, speech synthesis, and machine language learning. Two years ago, he began developing the Vault OS system in a basement in Shoreditch, London, England, a well-known technology startup center.

Blockchain, the technology that underlies the bitcoin digital currency and allows participants to track every transaction in a shared database, has captured the attention of the financial industry with supporters saying it has the potential to revolutionize the way markets operate.

This ledger is tamper-proof and transparent, which means that the transaction execution process does not require third-party verification.

Paul Taylor

Taylor said: "Most banks use systems written in the 1980s and 1990s, which are simply not adapted to the era of highly security-conscious Internet applications. Blockchain can provide a way to securely store transactions."

The system also eliminates the need for costly on-premises data centers, as it uses a cloud-based system, and the bank operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning there is no single point of failure risk.

"The big banks spend about $1.3 billion a year on computer technology, and a lot of that goes into supporting legacy systems, not into technology innovation," Taylor said.

Blockchain is still an emerging technology, and it is estimated that it will take another five to ten years for it to be widely used. However, its connection with Bitcoin has aroused some doubts; after the collapse of Mt. Gox, a Japanese exchange related to Bitcoin, investors directly lost nearly $500 million.

Taylor said the company has already started working with 10 banks, and at least one of them will trial the new system in August; it hopes to have the system fully operational within a year.