A research analyst at one of France’s largest banks just made a major case for digital currencies and their potential to disrupt traditional financial institutions.

Johann Palychata, Research Analyst at BNP Paribas Securities Services, described in Quintessence Magazine (BNP Paribas’ online publication), two scenarios in which bitcoin’s blockchain technology could completely change the infrastructure of financial institutions.

Specifically, the current inner workings of the securities industry may face a massive upheaval.

The integration of bitcoin’s public ledger, the blockchain, may make current exchange and settlement providers redundant. As Palychata puts it, “In its purest form, a distributed blockchain system allows all market participants direct access to the DSD (Decentralised Securities Depositary), to the exchange and to the post trade infrastructure (clearing & settlement).“

However, an open ledger would require all market participants to manage their own private keys, an onerous proposition for the less tech-saavy.

The second case would be the integration of the distributed ledger for more efficient recording of ownership and trades, though “end investors will still need to use a custodian to have access to the market,“ writes Palychata. This could greatly reduce operating costs, while providing financial institutions new opportunities to invest in better services for their customers.

Bitcoin and its related backend tech are gaining recognition, but it remains to be seen whether the potential for digital currencies to disrupt the traditional players will remain just that-potential.