Blockchain
September 13, 2023
According to a report published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in January 2019, around 40 central banks worldwide might consider experimenting with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). With the depth, extent, and progress of the same vary, it is safe to assume that we will see a surge in CBDCs over the next decade.
Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC is a digital form of the fiat money issued by the government. While cryptocurrencies were not issued by the state and lacked any legal assets backing them, CBDC will be issued by central banks as a complement to cash. While various technologies are available, Blockchain, or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will be the most likely choice for issuing CBDCs. However, unlike cryptocurrencies, CBDCs will ensure that the central bank controls the blockchain network and the supply of money.
CBDCs can offer a range of benefits to the central bank and the economy.
Usually, many people put CBDC and Blockchain in the same bucket. But unlike crypto-currencies that are driven by Blockchain, CBDCs have the central bank at the core of all transactions.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the financial crimes causing financial loss and reputational damage to people who fell victim to it. CBDC allows the central bank to monitor financial activities and exercise greater control and traceability than cash and even crypto-currencies. As CBDCs get launched, and their acceptance grows, central banks could mitigate these crimes and tax evasion attempts.
Most financial experts believe that CBDCs would become a payment option that co-exists with the others while lowering the printing costs. It could also solve some real-life challenges regarding the distribution of money in a simple and efficient manner. Also, Blockchain will be synonymous with anything relating to banking and digital currencies. Blockchain technology stands to benefit CBDC’s hugely.
Globally the payment modes have changed drastically in the last few years. With these changes, central banks of all developed economies recognize this and realize how important it is to adopt this new technology. A CBDC backed by Blockchain technology will provide citizens an alternative for storing their money.
CBDC and Blockchain technologies are poised to disrupt the financial sector around the globe. With the future looking bright for CBDCs and Blockchain, the number of job opportunities in this field is expected to grow at a good pace. While it might be difficult to predict an approximate number considering the economic slowdowns in most countries, the new world looks tech-driven, with Blockchain and CBDCs as an integral part of the financial landscape. For professionals in banking, financial services, insurance, management, consulting and technology, it becomes essential to build new capabilities in this field so they stay relevant in these changing times.
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Future of Blockchain in India
Blockchain has been gaining popularity all across the globe. In India, many industries have already started leveraging the benefits of this distributed ledger technology and many others are already developing path-breaking solutions based on blockchain. With every passing day, this technology has been making its presence felt in different ways.
As the country embraces digitization in various aspects of life, the future of blockchain technology is promising. The recent spurt of online payment solutions like GPay, Paytm, etc. is a simple example. So let’s look at the future of blockchain technology in India.
While most people know blockchain as the backbone of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, it is more than just that. This technology has the potential to radically transform business processes making them more transparent, secure, and efficient. While many industries are excited at the prospect of blockchain, it will be interesting to see how the Indian industries absorb this technology.
Few of the early movers have been the FinTech companies. In India, the banking and insurance sectors have been the first off the block. Since it was known to power cryptocurrencies, it made sense for the Financial sector to be an early adopter. Some other sectors that have experimented with blockchain are public administration, healthcare, and logistics. The telecom, travel, and energy sectors are also expected to join the list soon.
While the early adopters have experienced the possible benefits of blockchain, they have also faced some challenges.
With banking regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) creating a division to explore the applicability of blockchain to the Indian banking and financial system through the regulatory sandbox, the future seems promising.
According to the NASSCOM Avasant India Blockchain Report 2019, around 50% of the States in India are involved in various initiatives and are driving the adoption of blockchain in the country. Also, while the BFSI sector is leading the growth, there are several opportunities in the retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics sectors. Here are some important observations:
According to a Livemint report, the Indian Staffing Federation believes that blockchain is expected to create more than 30,000 jobs in 2020 alone. With merely 6500 qualified blockchain developers, these professionals are going to be in high demand in the near future. Education platforms like TalentSprint are helping fill this gap by offering Blockchain course in collaboration with IIIT Hyderabad Blockchain Center of Excellence.
Blockchain in India today is like what the internet was in the 1990s. While the internet brought information to our fingertips, blockchain technology has the potential to take it a step forward and induce ‘Value’ and ‘Trust’ on the internet. As the country absorbs the new technology, early adopters are bound to gain – be it businesses or professionals. India is one of the world’s youngest economies, and there are several challenges across sectors. However, going by the possibilities offered by blockchain, we expect a surge in its adoption soon.
Blockchain: Top 5 Myths Busted
Living in the rapidly evolving tech-driven economy, it has become imperative to understand the impact of transformative technologies that are disrupting the global business environment. And whenever we talk about such innovation, Blockchain is one subject that invariably finds its way into discussions and debates. The amount of information surrounding this emerging technology is endless and sure to cause information overload. While it continues to find a firm footing, the uncertainty surrounding its value addition has also raised a lot of misconceptions and speculations.
Let’s find out the myths surrounding this disruptive innovation and bust them right away.
Fact: First, let us get the basics straight. Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology that is open and can record transactions between users involved. Each such transaction is encrypted and linked to the other, forming a chain of data. The encrypted transactions can only be accessed using a digital key. Blockchain architecture facilitates the distributed ledger ecosystem but not all distributed ledger architectures are called Blockchain. And Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that uses the technology of Blockchain and not its substitute. Blockchain has been largely used to add value to managing cryptocurrencies, but its functionality is not limited to cryptocurrencies.
Fact: Extending our understanding from the previous point, it would be wrong to say that Blockchain is only relevant to the financial ecosystem. Although it started with managing cryptocurrencies and many other functions in electronic transactions, Blockchain’s architecture has the potential to do a lot more. As we speak, Blockchain is already permeating into other industries like food, retail, healthcare, and even non-profit, and revolutionizing business functions across manufacturing, supply chain, sales, and marketing. Once the technology is perfected to yield the best output, it won’t be long before this transformative technology will reinvent every business operation and become an essential tool for growth and expansion.
Fact: Many people have a notion that Blockchain provides an open playground for illegal activities. But truth be told, so is the case with every possible technology that is available to us today. There is no failsafe option. But it would also be wrong to say that Blockchain is high-risk. The architecture is used for all legitimate and legal operations, like any other tech infrastructure. In fact, the way the data chain is designed in Blockchain, it makes it difficult for hackers to break through each chain, without leaving a footprint on the code. Also, on tampering with each data chain, it will only yield inaccurate data on the next. So, if we cut through the inner workings of this technology, it appears to be quite safe.
Fact: Business problems cannot be solved with miracles. It takes a solution-centric, strategic approach, the right tools of technology, and a comprehensive system that can support the solution. As such, there is no Kryptonite in technology that can miraculously solve every business problem, not even Blockchain. But what Blockchain can surely do is to become one of the tools for driving solutions. It can be used to address a particular business problem with positive returns. For instance, if you are struggling to restructure your accounting system, then this tech architecture might be of help and expedite your operations. But it will not solve the glitches in your accounting process or the software used.
Fact: Yes, Blockchain does use the open-type distributed ledger system, but that is only one aspect of its functions. The open formats are used for cryptocurrencies, but many blockchain architectures run in a private mode and need permissions to access. Private blockchains are used for more sensitive business functions or more secure transactions that require access controls and selective authorization. Only those who have these permissions can access and share the data openly between them.
As vast and overwhelming it is, Blockchain is still exploring its complete potential for large-scale applications. And until it becomes pervasive enough, there’s bound to be questions surrounding its uncertainty. However, if one observes the current market trends, we can see developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and tech giants investing in harvesting the potential of Blockchain technology for driving the next phase of business growth. And the time is just about right for developers to equip themselves with a deep expertise to become proactive contributors to the growth of organization-wide Blockchain adoption.
IIM Calcutta rolls out new 6-month FinTech and Blockchain course
Targeted at management and finance professionals, the course carries a fee of Rs 3.36 lakh and will commence in May
The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), in collaboration with TalentSprint, a digital platform for professional education, has come up with a new course targeting management and finance professionals, with the aim of equipping them with modern-age digital tools.
The 6-month programme, titled Advanced Programme in FinTech and Financial Blockchain, has a course fee of Rs 3.36 lakh. The course will commence in May and will be certified by IIM-C.
The programme helps participants learn about financial technologies and its increasingly disruptive impact on the banking and financial ecosystem. In addition, it will prepare them to exploit the immense potential of FinTech to design and drive new product strategies for their organisations.
“A vast majority of firms in the banking and financial sector believe that the lack of adequate FinTech talent is an existential threat to their future. Our FinTech programme, designed with today’s management and finance professionals in mind, will leverage the deep research and consulting expertise of IIM Calcutta faculty and our state-of-art Finance Lab,” Indranil Bose, one of the Programme Directors said.
IIM-C aims to have around 2000 learners of this programme in the coming few years.
With over 50 years of academic excellence, IIM Calcutta is the only management institution in India with triple accreditation from AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS and is highly regarded for its excellence in the financial education domain.
On the other hand, FinTech is attracting significant investments with over 1000 companies raising in excess of $100 billion in the recent past. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reported a total of 2.45 billion digital payments in August 2018.
NASSCOM estimates Indian FinTech will double in size every three years while Gartner predicts that within a decade, 80 per cent of financial firms will lose their relevance because of the threats posed by new FinTech advancements, unforeseen competition, and altered customer preferences.
Sources – Business Standard
