UBS Asia Pacific CTO calls for the establishment of blockchain industry standards

Peter Stephens, CTO of UBS Asia Pacific, recently attended the Finnovasia conference held in Hong Kong and attracted much attention from the participants of the Finnovasia Forum. Stephens mainly talked about how financial services companies can use blockchain technology to innovate their business models.

“Banks are not sitting still either, we are understanding the direction of the future. This (blockchain) is not just a new customer experience, this is a real disruption to business models. It will completely eliminate old business models, it will create new business models. Blockchain will not only have an impact on financial services.”

In response to a question from moderator Pindar Wong, Stephens further revealed that UBS is investing in multiple blockchain technologies, including some Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as permissioned networks (private blockchains).

Stephens also said that UBS is very interested in blockchain technology and is trying to use it as an alternative to cumbersome internal bank books. He believes that UBS is not the only company that can benefit from it. He firmly believes that blockchain can affect all corporate processes, whether they are capital-based companies or labor-intensive companies.

In addition, many industry stakeholders were present, including Gatecoin CEO Aurelien Menant, Bitquant Chief Science Officer Joseph Wang, and WIP Solutions CEO Alex Edana, who expressed their views on various other issues related to this technology.

Bitcoin or blockchain

A question that has been frequently asked at recent conferences is which blockchain technology is likely to “ultimately win” or become widely used in traditional finance.

To this question, the answers given varied due to the different business models of the participants.

Madden, CTO of Hong Kong-based crypto asset trading platform ANX, which is shifting toward working with corporate clients, said he believes in providing clients with “mature products,” and bitcoin is the only mature product in the blockchain market today.

“We use Bitcoin. If you’re new to the market, Ethereum is a bit too complicated.”

Alex Edana, CEO of WIP Solutions, which is creating a blockchain not based on proof of work, is naturally opposed to using Bitcoin, a distributed network of computers that is not controlled by anyone.

“‘Why should I trust a third party?’ Miners, if you don’t know them, you’re going to have problems with know-your-customer (KYC), you’re going to have problems with controls,” he said.

Too many blockchains

The panel received a number of interesting questions from the audience, one of which was asking the panelists how adamant they were that financial companies should develop a friendly relationship with blockchain technology and whether they needed partners to help them explore the technology.

Stephens pointed to UBS and its work with blockchain startup R3, saying he doesn’t think banks can learn the technology on their own.

“The most important thing about this technology is sharing. You can’t do it on your own. That’s why we’re working with other companies. We’re not just working with R3. We’re going to do trials with other industry startups, telecom companies and banks.”

The audience also asked them how financial companies can avoid the situation where blockchain is as much a private ledger as it is a private ledger.

On this point, Stephens is convinced that the industry needs to have “open standards,” which he suggests should be a feature, even if it’s just for permissioned blockchains.

Edana is confident that cooperation is relatively easy in small markets.

“Australia will be the first market for blockchain in the next three to five years because you only have a handful of banks and two or three exchanges.”

In a later panel discussion, Ira Dhalawong of Ernst & Young summed up the enthusiasm for the technology at the conference by quipping, “This is clearly a small venue.”

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-panel-standing-room-only-at-finnovasia-hong-kong/
By Pete Rizzo
Translator: Ashley Chacha
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information