区块链在金融业的应用论文题目,区块链在金融业的应用论文范文
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❶ Application of blockchain in the financial field
1. Application and development of blockchain
Some Internet, Internet start-ups and traditional The financial industry has begun to try and apply blockchain in some projects
2. Domestic financial institutions are testing the waters of blockchain
Various financial institutions are testing the waters one after another, and they are basically in the conceptual experimental stage. It has not yet been commercially used on a large scale.
3. Panoramic view of blockchain application in the financial field
4. Ghostwriting
5. Digital bills
Bills are an important financial product in the financial market. They have dual functions of payment and financing. They are of high value and bear bank credit or commercial credit. Once a bill is issued, its face amount, date and other important information cannot be changed. Bills also have circulation attributes and can be accepted, endorsed, discounted, rediscounted, collected and other transactions within a specific life cycle. Once the transaction is completed, the transaction cannot be revoked. There are two characteristics in the circulation of bills: First, the circulation of bills mainly occurs through bank acceptance bills, and the number and circulation of commercial acceptance bills are small; second, each bank independently conducts credit granting and risk control on the bill business, and a single bank's Risk control results may affect other participants in the bill market transaction chain.
The experimental production system of the digital bill trading platform uses SDC (Smart Draft Chain) blockchain technology to protect privacy through cryptographic algorithms such as homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proof. The Byzantine Fault Tolerance Protocol (PBFT) performs consensus and uses a see-through mechanism to provide data monitoring.
The experimental production system includes four subsystems: stock exchange, bank, enterprise and monitoring: the stock exchange subsystem is responsible for managing the blockchain and monitoring the digital bill business; the bank subsystem has Digital bills have business functions such as acceptance and receipt, discount signing, rediscounting, and collection and repayment; the enterprise subsystem has business functions such as issuance, acceptance, endorsement, discounting, and prompt payment of digital bills; the monitoring subsystem monitors the status of the blockchain in real time and business occurrences
6.
❷ Blockchain financial applications
Blockchain financial applications are the key areas where they play a role in reality. Financial industry needsWith such high-end technology, traditional operating methods will undergo profound changes. Blockchain financial applications have many distinctive features, and people are talking about them. It has attracted more and more attention because of its actual effects, and has had an increasing impact.
Abstract: Developed countries and technology companies have taken the lead in the research and application of blockchain technology. Judging from the application of patent technology, there may be a gap of about one and a half years between my country and the United States in blockchain technology. Based on the above situation, how can China achieve "asymmetric" catch-up? The first thing is to see the situation clearly, seize opportunities and meet challenges. Secondly, after understanding the necessity of the underlying construction of blockchain for the existing business and future development of the financial industry, a consensus was reached among various financial companies to establish a "China's Financial Blockchain Alliance". The last step is to advance collaboratively and embrace change.
How to understand blockchain?
Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. In 2009, after the paper was published, Bitcoin was born as a virtual currency in the digital world of the Internet. At present, the total market value of Bitcoin is about US$6.5 billion. Although the market value is constantly changing, it is still the largest virtual currency in the world.
Another important concept is blockchain. Blockchain is an underlying technology of Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is just an application of blockchain. As we all know, Bitcoin can realize point-to-point value transfer. In addition to the Bitcoin blockchain, there are many other blockchains, such as the Ethereum blockchain, etc. Therefore, we should distinguish between concepts such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin blockchain, blockchain, and blockchain technology.
Currently, people have several misunderstandings about blockchain. Blockchain can be described in English as "Decentralized Blockchain", where Decentralized is translated as "decentralized". However, I think the blockchain has realized the unintermediary dissemination of value, which is point-to-point value dissemination. This does not mean that after entering the blockchain era, there is no need for a center, but that it should move from a single centralization to a center and a center. parallel development. Then, the existing center is likely to become a branch center or a weak center. Currently, all banks have their own data centers. If a financial blockchain alliance is established in the future, they can become nodes in the blockchain alliance, so blockchain does not require a center.
Blockchain does not require credit
We often see some articles that believe that blockchain needs to “remove credit”. In fact, blockchain relies on consensus The algorithm builds trust and ensures the correctness of transactions through consensus among nodes. Build trust at low cost through mathematics and algorithms instead of "removing credit". However, digital asset transactions between people do not require two people to know each other or have a trust relationship with each other. It does not require a third-party credit agency. It only requires a trust zone.Blockchain is a trusted network.
Why is it considered credible? Because it is a distributed database, it has a consensus-based mechanism: a set of encryption algorithms, making it immutable. On the one hand, the public key makes information transparent and traceable; on the other hand, the private key can protect privacy.
Blockchain is not a mature technology, nor is it omnipotent. Blockchain technology is still in its early stages of development. At the beginning of this year, we sent a delegation to Barclays South Africa’s blockchain research laboratory to study. During the seminar, Barclays African blockchain experts believed that it will take at least five to ten years for blockchain technology to become a truly mature technology. At present, blockchain has the disadvantages of relatively slow computing speed and small storage space. Moreover, not all data processing requires the use of blockchain.
Research and application of blockchain in foreign countries
We found that established financial developed countries are already leading the way in the research of blockchain technology. The British government believes that it is very important for the government to participate in the legislation of digital currencies and blockchain networks, and the government encourages in-depth research on blockchain technology. The British government is actively evaluating the potential of blockchain technology and considering its use to reduce financial fraud and reduce costs. In addition, the UK government plans to develop application systems that can be used between government and public agencies.
In February this year, the European Commission placed cryptocurrency at the top of the list of rapid development target areas. This initiative promoted policy research on digital currencies by various agencies. Technology companies are also leading the way in research on blockchain technology.
IBM launched the "Open Ledger Project" to develop an enterprise-level blockchain software structure and promote the commercial use of blockchain technology through the Bluemix and API foundation of the IBM cloud computing platform. Architecture to support the docking of external data. IBM still has a lot of practice in blockchain technology. Recently, it and a company in South Korea conducted creative experiments using blockchain technology and the Internet of Things, and achieved some results.
Microsoft uses the Azure platform to provide users with "blockchain as a service", which can enable R3 and its bank members to speed up the experiment and learning process, and accelerate the development, testing and deployment of distributed ledgers.
Intel also released SawtoothLake, an efficient modular platform for building, deploying and running distributed ledgers; at the same time, Intel is also studying to create a trusted execution environment for hardware chips for blockchain applications, providing Greater security and privacy.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is also taking action. Although created relatively late, R3’s core function is to formulate industry standards for the development of blockchain technology in the banking industry, as well as explore practical uses and establish a blockchain alliance for banks.
From what we know, Wall StreetIn addition to these two new companies catering to the digital financial era, large financial institutions are studying blockchain technology and establishing their own blockchain concepts and technical teams.
Currently, blockchain technology already has practical application cases.
In Canada, the blockchain startup company "Blockchain Tech Ltd" has successfully been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange GEM; the Estonian government will launch the government's blockchain medical insurance Record.
Domestic attention and research on blockchain technology
Blockchain is an optional technology. Previously, the People's Bank of China also held a digital currency seminar. In addition to the central bank, relevant departments such as Zhejiang Province and Beijing Municipality also expressed support for blockchain application research last year.
From an enterprise perspective, Bubi blockchain has been used in equity, supply chain, points and other fields, and is conducting trials and application tests with exchanges and banks. Bubi Blockchain focuses on the innovation of blockchain technology and products. It already possesses a number of core technologies and has developed its own blockchain service platform. And many blockchain innovative and entrepreneurial companies are constantly emerging.
In addition, a number of industry alliances are being established. In terms of financial institutions, the current cases of blockchain application by my country's large banks and financial institutions still need to be solved.
At the end of 2015, Bank of America had obtained 15 patents on blockchain. There may be a gap of about one and a half years between my country and the United States in blockchain technology.
Blockchain financial applications are entering a new stage in an all-round way. Various applications will become more and more in-depth, and related changes will attract more and more attention, and a huge new trend will form. .
❸ Applications of blockchain
The main application areas of blockchain include: digital currency, transaction settlement of financial assets, digital government affairs, certificate deposit and anti-counterfeiting data services and other fields. Blockchain is a database technology that links data blocks in an orderly manner. Each block is responsible for recording a file data and encrypting it to ensure that the data cannot be modified or forged.
Blockchain is essentially a distributed database system that uses cryptography technology for multi-party participation, joint maintenance, and continuous growth. It is also called a distributed shared ledger. Each page in the shared ledger is a block, and each block is filled with transaction records. The anonymity, decentralization, openness, transparency, and non-tamperability of blockchain technology make it highly favored by enterprises and has gained More extensive application attempts.
Blockchain application scope 1. Financial fieldBlockchain can provide a trust mechanism and has the potential to change the financial infrastructure. Various financial assets such as equity, bonds, bills, warehouse receipts, fund shares, etc. It can be integrated into the blockchain technology system and become a digital asset on the chain, which can be stored, transferred and traded on the blockchain.
Decentralization of blockchain technology, can reduce transaction costs and make financial transactions more convenient, intuitive and secure. The combination of blockchain technology and the financial industry will inevitably create more and more business models, service scenarios, business processes and financial products, thereby bringing more impact to the development of financial markets, financial institutions, financial services and financial formats. . With the improvement of blockchain technology and the combination of blockchain technology with other financial technologies, blockchain technology will gradually adapt to the application of large-scale financial scenarios.
2. Public service fieldTraditional public services rely on limited data dimensions, and the information obtained may not be comprehensive enough and have a certain lag. The non-tamperable nature of the blockchain makes the digital certification on the chain highly credible. It can be used to establish new authentication mechanisms in the fields of property rights, notarization and public welfare, and improve the management level of public services.
Relevant information in the public welfare process, such as donation projects, fundraising details, fund flows, recipient feedback, etc., can be stored on the blockchain to meet the privacy protection of project participants and other relevant laws and regulations. Under the premise of requirements, public disclosure will be made conditionally to facilitate public and social supervision.
3. Information security fieldUsing the traceability and non-tampering characteristics of blockchain, we can ensure the authenticity of data sources and ensure the non-forgery of data. Blockchain technology will fundamentally change information Security issues of the propagation path.
Blockchain is reflected in the following three points in the field of information security:
User identity authentication protects data integrity and effectively prevents DDoS attacksThe distributed storage architecture of blockchain will make Hackers are at a loss as to what to do. Some companies have begun to develop a distributed Internet domain name system based on blockchain to eliminate the root cause of the current DNS registration shortcomings and make the network system cleaner and more transparent.
4. Internet of Things fieldBlockchain + Internet of Things can allow each device on the Internet of Things to operate independently, and the information generated by the entire network can be protected through smart contracts in the blockchain.
Security: Traditional IoT devices are highly vulnerable to attacks, data loss and maintenance costs are high. Typical information security risk issues for IoT devices include low firmware versions, lack of security patches, permission loopholes, too many device network ports, and unencrypted information transmission. The blockchain's consensus mechanism for network-wide node verification, asymmetric encryption technology and distributed data storage will significantly reduce the risk of hacker attacks.
Trustability: The traditional Internet of Things is managed and controlled by a centralized cloud server. Due to the security of the device and the opacity of the centralized server, it is difficult to effectively protect user privacy data. The blockchain is a distributed account book. Each block is interconnected and has its own independent working ability, ensuring that the information on the chain will not be tampered with at will. Distributed ledgers can therefore provide trust, ownership records, transparency and communication support for the Internet of Things.
Effectiveness: Limited by cloud services and maintenance costs, the Internet of Things is difficult to achieve large-scale commercial use. The traditional Internet of Things realizes communication between things through centralized cloud servers. The modeThe disadvantage is that as the number of access devices increases, the server faces more load, requiring enterprises to invest a lot of money to maintain the normal operation of the Internet of Things system.
Blockchain technology can directly realize point-to-point transactions, omitting the labor expenditure of other intermediaries or personnel, which can effectively reduce the costs incurred by third-party services and maximize benefits.
5. Supply chain fieldThe supply chain consists of many participating entities, with a large amount of interaction and collaboration. Information is discretely stored in their own systems, lacking transparency. The lack of smooth information makes it difficult for various participating entities to accurately understand the real-time status and existing problems of related matters, affecting the collaborative efficiency of the supply chain. When disputes arise between parties, it is time-consuming and laborious to provide evidence and pursue accountability.
Blockchain can make data open and transparent among various entities, thereby forming a complete, smooth, and non-tamperable information flow throughout the entire supply chain. This can ensure that all entities promptly discover problems arising during the operation of the supply chain system and find targeted solutions, thus improving the overall efficiency of supply chain management.
6. Automotive IndustryLast year announced a partnership using blockchain to build a proof of concept to streamline the car rental process and build it into a "click, sign up, and drive" process. Future customers choose what they want The rented car enters the public ledger of the blockchain; then, sitting in the driver's seat, the customer signs the rental agreement and insurance policy, and the blockchain updates the information simultaneously. This is not an imagination, for car sales and car registration Said, this type of process may also develop into reality.
7. Stock TradingFor many years, many companies have worked to make the process of buying, selling, and trading stocks easy. Emerging Blockchain Chain startups believe that blockchain technology can make this process more secure and automated than any previous solution. At the same time, blockchain startup Chain is working with Nasdaq to enable private companies through blockchain. Equity transfer
8. Government managementGovernment information, project bidding and other information are open and transparent. Government work is usually subject to public attention and supervision. Since blockchain technology can ensure the transparency and immutability of information, it is very important to the government. The implementation of transparent management plays a great role. There is a certain degree of information opacity in government project bidding, and enterprises also have the risk of information leakage during the sealed bidding process. Blockchain can ensure that bidding information cannot be tampered with and can ensure the transparency of information nature, forming a common trust among competitors who do not trust each other. It can also arrange subsequent smart contracts through the blockchain to ensure the construction progress of the project and prevent the growth of corruption to a certain extent.
There are many more applications of blockchain technology. This is just a fulcrum of blockchain applications. In the future, blockchain technology will be applied everywhere
❹ Blockchain technology, how Only when it can be correctly applied to the financial industry
Looking back to 2008, blockchain technology demonstrated the changes it can bring in different business fields. Although this technology is stillIn its early days, it has already transformed many industries. Various properties of blockchain, such as decentralization, immutability, and transparency, can transform business models. Especially for the banking and finance industry.
Although there are still many problems, blockchain has the potential to reduce costs and labor for the financial and banking industries. According to a Deloitte report, 24% of financial institutions around the world are familiar with blockchain technology, and North America will be more familiar with these technologies than other places. Considering the broad applicability of this technology, companies are gradually looking for different areas where blockchain can be applied.
Especially in the banking and finance industry, hundreds of funds are moving from one end of the world to the other every day. This makes the global financial system one of the industries that can profit from blockchain applications. The banking and financial industry requires a lot of manual labor. If there are any errors at this time, it will have a great impact on the financial system. According to the Global Fintech Report, in 2017, 77% of Fintech institutions hoped to use blockchain as a financial production system by 2020.
Application of blockchain in banking industry
For a basic understanding of blockchain technology and operation methods, the real question in your mind may be: Is blockchain really Can the land be applied in the banking industry? If so, how can we best leverage blockchain technology? And, most importantly, will blockchain stay where it is or move forward?
According to a report from Harvard Business School, blockchain is now to the banking industry what the Internet is to the media. Blockchain can solve many problems in the banking and financial industry. Blockchain technology has all the characteristics that reliable technology should have, including financial-related businesses.
Blockchain can provide a high level of security, especially when it comes to exchanging data, information and money. At the same time, this also allows users to take advantage of a transparent network architecture with very low operating costs, and at the same time, get decentralized help. These characteristics will make blockchain a very stable, reliable and popular solution for the banking and financial industry.
If financial institutions want to ensure the safety of funds, they need many intermediaries. Yet these intermediaries make the entire industry more expensive. And, because there are so many people involved in the process, the chances of errors increasing. Blockchain technology can ensure the security of transfers, while also providing users with a better experience and lower costs.
Cases of banks using blockchain technology
Although banks and financial institutions were still skeptical about blockchain technology in the early days, things have changed now. . With the success of blockchain in many fields, the banking industry is looking for new areas and applications of blockchain.
Some large companies, such as JP Morgan, are confident about the future development of blockchain. The U.S. investment bank headquarters has also begun research and implementation of blockchain technology. The Quorum project is an enterprise distributed ledger and smart contract platform that can support fast transfers and throughput to solve problems in the financial industry, banks, etc. According to current news, they have issued annuity certificates with different interest rates based on distributed registries.
In addition to these, major US banks have obtained patent certificates issued by the US Patent Office. The document talks about the deployment of permissioned blockchains to ensure the security of records and to authenticate corporate and personal data.
This system will allow certified members to obtain data and record all individual members. In addition, the system will use blockchain technology to integrate multiple existing data storage platforms. This secure single network will provide overall efficiency while also reducing the number of addresses where user data is stored.
Another institution is Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is also actively integrating into the research of distributed registration technology. In order to serve startups in the blockchain industry and solve the volatility of digital currencies, Goldman Sachs has invested in digital currency projects.
Goldman Sachs Group aims to become Wall Street’s leader in digital currencies. Setting up their own digital currency transactions can help them manage digital transactions well.
Cases of using blockchain technology in finance
As more application cases emerge, blockchain technology has the potential to change the current financial and banking industry. This technology can change the current banking industry through the following points:
Reduce fraud
In any financial-related project, there will be fraud. In addition, from the most basic financial model point of view, security is also the most important. More than 40% of financial entities and intermediaries, such as stock exchanges, suffer significant losses every year due to financial theft incidents.
Centralized database systems are used for financial management and operations. However, centralized databases are easy to be invaded. If there is a problem at a single point, a cyber attack will occur. Once a hacker gains access to such a system, it is easy to steal funds. This will create a need for more secure systems, with adequate security guarantees to prevent such attacks.
Since the blockchain is distributed, there is no single point of destruction. Each transfer stored in the form of blocks will be protected by an encryption mechanism and is difficult to be attacked.
Moreover, all blocks are connected to each other. Because of this connected machineIf a block is changed, all other blocks on the blockchain will immediately reflect the change. Therefore, this will help track the intrusion while also giving the hacker no chance to make changes to the entire system. With a secure blockchain system, we can prevent cyberattacks and now attacks on the banking and financial industry.
Customer identity verification Banks and financial institutions are very worried about this, so they must perform AML and KYC to reduce losses. All these processes take a lot of time, and all banks and financial institutions need to conduct all verifications independently.
According to investigation reports, this type of process costs between US$6 million and US$50 million every year. Some customer due diligence is to reduce money laundering and attacks. Currently, banks need to upload customers' KYC data to a centralized registration agency, which is used to verify the information of old or new customers.
With the application of the blockchain system, the customer verification of each bank or financial institution can also be used by other banks, and these KYC verifications do not need to be performed multiple times.
In other words, through blockchain technology, a lot of duplication of work can be eliminated. Moreover, in the not-too-distant future, all financial institutions will have access to updated customer information, reducing costs for administrators and management agencies.
Smart Assets
Trade finance becomes difficult when all assets need to be recorded with clear date and time stamps. The global supply chain includes many institutions and individuals, and participants are constantly conducting transactions. The documentation here is more complex. Blockchain can store records of these smart assets in digital form. The smart asset system will not only move items, but also track the trajectory of items.
Intelligent asset tracking systems for banks and financial institutions are also now facing a lot of competition. Banks with rich data can turn this data into customer value through blockchain.
Smart Contracts
The application of smart contracts can prove the importance of the banking and financial industry. Smart contracts are codes that can execute themselves when certain conditions are met.
When using financial transfers, smart contracts are very helpful to increase speed and simplify complex processes. Only when the conditions in the code are met, the contract will be executed and the transfer information will be ensured to be very accurate. And since these terms are visible to everyone, the chance of errors is much reduced.
Trade Finance
Trade Finance is considered to be the most important application of blockchain technology in the banking industry.One of the useful applications. All parties involved, such as complex transfers, can be recorded on the blockchain network, and traders and banks share this information through a common ledger. Once a certain condition is met, the smart contract will run automatically and relevant parties can see all actions that occur.
According to relevant news, some start-ups have successfully conducted blockchain-based transaction transfers. This process usually takes 7-10 days, but now it only takes 4 hours. Compared with current infrastructure, using blockchain can significantly reduce the generation of certificates, tickets, and other fees.
Why does the banking industry need blockchain?
1. The current banking system is highly dependent on paper documents and current systems. Trustworthy and stable system upgrades are now needed to prevent any fraud and solve expansion and security issues. Blockchain technology and its decentralized nature can give the banking system the high-end technology it is looking for.
2. Banks cannot operate independently, and many transfers now go through intermediaries. Cross-border transfers take 5 days and involve many risks. Through the blockchain system, banks can make transfers very fast without taking any risks. The banks themselves are enough to solve these problems.
3. The world is moving towards digitalization. The speed of economic development is also gradually increasing, and there is no doubt that this speed will be faster. Blockchain technology will make small-amount transfers faster, while ensuring lower fees and transfer scalability.
4. In addition to banks, financial service companies are gradually using the latest technology to reform their systems and ensure market security by providing reliable services and lower rates. Banks and other financial institutions should embrace new blockchain technologies to make their ecosystems secure.
There are still many challenges to the integration of blockchain technology
Blockchain technology certainly has its advantages, but it also contains many challenges, especially for the financial and banking industries. of institutions.
Interoperability: Blockchain technology will not be bound by any international regulations, so there are no standards. As large industries, such as banks, increase their interactivity requirements, blockchain needs to be compatible with different systems and be accepted by the public. The integration of existing systems and blockchain is a very big challenge for the current system, because the existing system cannot be completely replaced. If blockchain technology can enable multiple systems to work perfectly together, then operational feasibility will be fully met.
Privacy: The endorsement of banks and financial institutions is the trust people place in depositing funds into them. It’s important if you want blockchain to replace themThe purpose is to ensure that the data stored in the blockchain is stored safely and does not change anyone's identity. Since transfer information is conducted publicly on the blockchain, private chains also need to be studied, which will also help solve interactivity issues.
Encryption: Private keys are a necessary element of the blockchain system because they play a very important role in ensuring personal data on the blockchain. However, once the private key is obtained, it must be stored very securely because if lost, there is no way to get it back. Moreover, there are loopholes in the encryption method used to store data, which also makes the blockchain easily vulnerable to hackers.
Security: The blockchain network is safe and reliable because it incorporates encryption technology. In order to prevent hacker attacks, any encryption performance in this type of system requires a lot of computing power. . When a blockchain network is used in any banking institution, it must be encrypted through multiple security protocols. The network needs to have enough computing power to prevent anyone from taking control except under specific access permissions. Depending on these requirements, such systems or institutions integrated into blockchain can be permissioned or permissionless. People within these organizations need to be able to handle different levels of access permissions to save the entire network from fraud and cyber attackers.
Scalability: The growth of existing data is undeniable. As the population grows, so does the size of the database. This will bring great challenges to the application of blockchain. Networks created through blockchain should be able to handle increasing traffic while also maintaining the speed of network participants. If blockchain technology can be applied to current banking systems and institutions, it must be able to guarantee the ability to handle these data flows.
Energy consumption: Most blockchain networks are based on a proof-of-work mechanism, where network participants are rewarded based on how quickly they solve problems, which is also based on how quickly they solve problems. This puts new blocks into the network. This allows the entire network to operate stably while also increasing energy consumption. This type of computing power consumes a lot of electricity and has an impact on the environment. These issues need to be addressed through other incentive mechanisms before blockchain technology can be embraced.
Legal supervision: If blockchain is applied to the banking industry, international regulatory regulations are very necessary. Now, as the most popular application of blockchain, digital currency has no regulatory regulations, which has pros and cons. However, if blockchain is applied in the banking and financial industry, then regulation will be needed to prevent people from causing trouble due to losses.
Conclusion
Although regulations are very strict for the banking industry, financial institutions have also begun their journey to adopt blockchain technology as a solution. Banking giants have already begunTest to find potential uses for decentralized technologies.
Institutions are investing heavily in research into blockchain solutions. By allowing blockchain to enter the current industry, many problems will be solved. Because this technology makes the system more transparent, reliable, and easy to use.
❺ An analysis paper on the prospects of blockchain in the financial field
An analysis paper on the prospects of blockchain in the financial field
Blockchain technology was born in 2008 , the first application is Bitcoin. Blockchain technology uses a decentralized consensus mechanism to maintain a complete, distributed, and non-tamperable ledger database, allowing participants in the blockchain to implement a unified ledger system without establishing a trust relationship. . In 2015, many mainstream financial institutions in Europe and the United States recognized the application prospects of this technology and explored the application of blockchain technology in the financial field. The International Monetary Fund pointed out in a report that "it has the potential to change finance." Some people believe that blockchain technology will change human society as profoundly as double-entry accounting and shareholding.
Blockchain will make it possible for all individuals to become important nodes in the allocation of financial resources. It will also promote the improvement of the existing financial system and financial rules, and build a shared and win-win situation. type of financial development ecosystem. The emergence of blockchain technology is a revolution in human credit creation. It allows both parties to the transaction to carry out economic activities without the need for third-party credit intermediaries, thereby achieving low-cost value transfer. It can be said that blockchain technology is a more efficient value exchange technology in the Internet era. The Internet has evolved from an information Internet that transmits information to a value Internet that transfers value. This is conducive to traditional financial institutions taking advantage of the opportunity to transform and transform endogenous businesses. Processes and application scenarios are Internetized.
1. Characteristics and shortcomings of blockchain
(1) Main characteristics of blockchain
(1) Decentralization. In the blockchain, there is no centralized hardware or management organization. The distributed structure system and open source protocol allow all participants to participate in the recording and verification of data, which is then sent to various nodes through distributed propagation. Each participant The nodes are all "self-centered", and the rights and obligations are equal. Blockchain is not simply decentralized, but multi-centered or weakly centered. When the Internet of Things makes it possible for all individuals to become central nodes, the central status of traditional financial intermediaries changes, transforming from a monopoly-type, resource-advantaged center and strong intermediary to an open platform, becoming a service-oriented multi-center. Center of differentiation.
(2) To trust. From a trust perspective, blockchain uses a set of open and transparent mathematical algorithms based on consensus specifications and protocols to enable all nodes to automatically and securely exchange data in a trustless environment. Blockchain essentially solves the trust problem through mathematical methods, and all rules are expressed in the form of algorithmic programs.Participants do not need to know the credit level of the counterparty, nor do they need transaction endorsement or guarantee verification from a third-party institution. They only need to trust the common algorithm, and use the algorithm to create credit, generate trust, and reach consensus for participants.
(3) Timestamp. Blocks are generated by packaging data and code within a period of time. The header of the next block contains the index information of the previous block, and a chain is formed by connecting the end to the end. The blocks that record the complete history and the chain that can be completely verified form a timestamp that can trace the complete history. It can provide retrieval and search functions for each piece of data, and can use the blockchain structure to trace the source, one by one. verify. Therefore, the blockchain is timestamped when generated, forming a database that cannot be tampered with or forged. Modifications to the database on a single node are invalid unless more than 51% of the nodes in the system can be controlled at the same time, so the data reliability of the blockchain is very high.
(4) Asymmetric encryption. The blockchain uses an asymmetric encryption algorithm, that is, a "key pair" is used in the encryption and decryption process. The two keys in the "key pair" have asymmetric characteristics. In the application scenario of blockchain, on the one hand, the key is the public key visible to all participants. Participants can use the public key to encrypt a piece of authenticity information, and only the owner of the information can use the private key to decrypt it. On the other hand, the private key is used to sign the information, and the signature is verified by the corresponding public key to ensure that the information was sent by the real holder. Asymmetric encryption minimizes friction boundaries in value exchange, enables transparent data anonymity, and protects personal privacy.
(5) Smart contract: Since the blockchain can realize point-to-point value transfer, corresponding programming scripts can be embedded during transfer. This smart contract method is used to handle some unforeseen transaction patterns and ensure Blockchain can continue to be effective. This kind of programmable script is essentially a list of many instructions to achieve pertinence and conditionality in value exchange and to achieve specific uses of value. Therefore, any value exchange activity based on the blockchain can achieve hard control over its use, direction and various restrictions through intelligent programming, eliminating the cost of soft constraints by law or contract.
(2) Main problems of blockchain
(1) High energy consumption problem. There is an impossible triangle in the traditional currency and banking system, that is, it is impossible to achieve decentralization, low energy consumption and high security at the same time. The impossible triangle also exists in the construction of blockchain. For example, in the actual application of Bitcoin, its development has brought about the rapid expansion of computer hardware, and the main costs in the "mining" process have shifted to hardware costs and electricity costs. Therefore, after applying blockchain technology to achieve equity cost benefits, maximizing its technical efficacy has become an urgent problem to be solved.
(2) Storage space problem. Since the blockchain records every transaction information from the initial information in the system, and each node has to download, store and update data blocks in real time, if the data of each node is completely synchronized, the network pressure will be great, and each node will sectionPoint's storage space capacity requirements may become a key issue restricting its development.
(3) The problem of stress resistance. The system built based on the blockchain follows the barrel theory and must take into account the worst processing speed and network environment among all network nodes. Therefore, if the blockchain technology is promoted to a large-scale transaction environment, its overall stress resistance It remains to be verified. If the transaction volume generated per second exceeds the design capacity of the system (the weakest node), transactions will automatically enter the queue and be queued, resulting in a poor user experience.
2. Application of blockchain in the financial field
(1) Financial infrastructure
Blockchain may serve as the infrastructure of the Internet in many fields. All show broad application prospects. In the financial industry, blockchain technology will first affect financial infrastructure such as payment systems, securities settlement systems, and transaction databases. Later, the technology will also expand to general financial services, such as credit systems, "anti-money laundering," etc. This is because, based on the characteristics of blockchain technology, it will first enter the infrastructure field with high trust requirements and high cost of traditional trust mechanisms. In the past, infrastructure was a public product, but new technologies and new systems of blockchain make it more It is possible for multiple people to participate in the provision of public goods. The future of Internet finance will use Internet technologies such as blockchain to transform the core production systems of traditional financial institutions and build financial enterprises on the Internet.
The current information Internet can be collectively referred to as the TCP/IP model, and HTTP is the most important application protocol in the application layer. In the Internet of Value, blockchain is a point-to-point transmission protocol in the application layer. Its value is the same as that of the HTTP protocol in the information Internet. The huge potential and prospect of blockchain is that it can reconstruct the infrastructure and core production systems of the traditional financial industry, not just at the application level such as APPs. This is because, at the network level, the blockchain is based on the IP communication protocol and the distributed network; at the data level, the blockchain database system is brand new and is significantly better than the existing one. There is a database for the financial system; at the application level, blockchain-based registration, settlement, clearing systems, smart contracts, and the Internet of Things can greatly improve efficiency. Financial activities on the blockchain are programmable finance. .
(2) Digital Currency
From the perspectives of security and cost, it is a general trend that banknotes will be replaced by new technologies and new products. The establishment of digital currency issuance and circulation systems is very necessary for financial infrastructure construction and economic development. Following the idea of integrating traditional currency and digital currency, the issuance, circulation and trading of digital currency should be led by the central bank, reflecting convenience and security, and achieving a balance between protecting privacy, maintaining social order, and combating illegal and criminal activities. It is conducive to the effective operation and transmission of monetary policy. It is necessary to retain the control of monetary sovereignty. Digital currency is freely convertible and controllable.
Blockchain technology on BitcoinThe success proves the feasibility of programmable digital currency. Research from the Bank of England suggests that central banks could consider issuing blockchain-based digital currencies, which could increase financial stability. The technical routes of digital currency can be divided into two types: account-based and non-account-based. They can also be used in layers to try to coexist. The characteristic of blockchain technology is distributed bookkeeping, which is not account-based and cannot be tampered with. If the digital currency focuses on protecting personal privacy, this technology can be used. However, the current blockchain occupies too many computing resources and storage resources and cannot cope with the current scale of transactions. This problem needs to be solved before it can be promoted and applied.
(3) Self-finance
From the perspective of services and non-monetary creation, modern finance is realized through intermediaries. In the Internet era, it is possible to achieve direct finance in the true sense of disintermediation. However, this possibility is not complete. The main reason is that the current Internet finance is based on the original finance and cannot be jumped out. Blockchain technology provides a possibility. Blockchain can be divided into public blockchain and private blockchain. Public blockchains are like Bitcoin. Once the protocol is approved, it becomes an integral part of the blockchain. Private blockchains still need to be permissioned, and blockchain technology in banking systems requires auditing of each participant. Private blockchain is very similar to a form of self-finance, and public blockchain is more similar to the support and guarantee for the bottom layer of private blockchain. When blockchain technology is widely used and third-party financial management technology is generally available, self-financing based on blockchain technology will become completely possible.
3. Blockchain Application and Financial Supervision
Blockchain technology is currently the only tool that can be used to record and prove transaction consistency and company financial accuracy without the need for a third party. Therefore, it can meet the requirements of potential regulators and the public for audit effectiveness, accuracy and timeliness, and has broad application prospects in the financial field. However, its development is still restricted by the current system. On the one hand, blockchain has had an impact on the current system because its decentralized and autonomous characteristics dilute concepts such as the state and supervision. For example, digital currencies represented by Bitcoin challenge the country's right to issue currency and regulate monetary policy, causing monetary authorities to take a conservative attitude towards the development of digital currencies. On the other hand, regulatory authorities also lack full understanding and expectations of this new technology, and the establishment of laws and systems will be seriously delayed, resulting in the lack of necessary institutional norms and legal protection for blockchain applications, increasing the risks for market entities.
Once blockchain financial technology is widely deployed in the financial industry, the de-financial nature of supervision will occur, and supervisory functions, supervisory methods and supervisory means will be redefined. For example, if securities lending, repurchases, and margin trading can be traded through the blockchain, regulatory authorities can consider using the information from this public ledger to monitor systemic risks in the market, which is not only efficient but also reliable. From a macro-financial perspective, since the emergence of the financial era, money creation andThe transmission mechanism and credit creation pattern will change. From a micro-finance perspective, with the further development of blockchain technology, finance and business have become difficult to distinguish, and will transcend the meaning of separate and mixed industry supervision. The reform of the financial supervision system needs to be discussed from this perspective.
The "decentralization" brought about by blockchain technology still requires centralized departments to provide regulatory and guarantee support. Regulators can proactively embrace new technologies in Internet finance. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Kara Stein believes that regulators need to be in a leading position, taking advantage of the advantages of blockchain technology and quickly responding to its potential weaknesses. For example, blockchain technology hopes to break privileges and human manipulation and allow computer algorithms to achieve "free credit notarization." But in practice, due to the lack of supervision, digital currency transactions such as Bitcoin face high risks of speculation and money laundering. Therefore, the application of blockchain technology requires regulatory authorities to formulate relevant standards and specifications to ensure that financial innovative products are used appropriately. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the protection of consumer rights and interests, strengthen education on the protection of financial consumer rights and interests, and improve consumers' awareness of risk prevention.
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