Of all the tech marvels out there which are changing FinServ and other industries, Blockchain has always been one of a kind – it thrives on collaboration. It is an ecosystem-level technology which promises huge cost/operational efficiencies when working in an interconnected ecosystem. In the last few years, while the buzz around cryptocurrencies, ICOs, and now STOs has grown, there has been another major theme around the global business community pertaining to blockchain – the emergence of Blockchain consortia.
As of this date, there are more than 60 blockchain consortia – as per Gartner’s Blockchain toolkit – which are leading blockchain development and deployment initiatives across several industries around the world. Some notable examples:
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R3CEV, a distributed database technology company leading a consortium of more than 80 FIs in blockchain R&D.
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Hyperledger, an umbrella project of open-source blockchain and related tools, founded by the Linux Foundation. It is focused on global business transactions including major technological, financial, and supply chain companies.
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Digital Asset Holding, a software company that develops and builds distributed ledger technology solutions for the financial services industry.
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B3i, an insurance industry-specific blockchain consortium, led by five large global insurers and reinsurers.
MEDICI conducted an analysis of 40 of these 60+ consortia to understand the activities happening in this space. More than 47% of these consortia were led by FinServ incumbents – banks, credit unions, FIs, insurers, etc. This is a major insight as it highlights financial services as the biggest disruption area for blockchain. Some of these consortia being led by FinServ
