PwC Executives Give Some Insight On Developing Blockchain Technology in 2016

In a recent interview with CoinDesk, two high profile PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) leaders, Jeremy Drane and Cathryn Marsh, discussed about the future of Blockchain technology in the financial world and made some predictions regarding how this new technology would help shape things.

While Bitcoin started as an open source cryptocurrency, further developing the Blockchain technology for practical financial application would require additional investment in terms of research and development costs as well as implementation costs.

Financial corporations taking an interest in the Blockchain technology will certainly need to determine which new developments they would feel comfortable about sharing with the broader Bitcoin community and which ones they would hold back in order to protect their innovation.

According to the PwC executives, deciding on the intellectual property would be one of the major focus areas of developing the Blockchain technology for corporations in 2016.

While the Blockchain technology is enjoying more of a honeymoon stage, where large corporations are just starting to take an interest and ready to write large fat checks, in 2016, large scale financial corporations will need to make strategic plans for long-term risk taking.

The PwC executives stated that financial institutions who are now investing in Blockchain technology, be it developing proofs-of-concept, pilots or even direct investments, they will need to start evaluating the systematic risk and take a course of action accordingly in 2016.

Finally, the PwC leaders predicted that while most investment in Blockchain in 2015 went into developing proof-of-concept, this year the focus will shift towards building supporting systems for the transactional services. For example, financial institutions exploring the Blockchain technology for using in real world financial transactions will start exploring the governance, audit, and IT security of their projects.

They also gave some sound advice to the firms who are taking an interest in Blockchain technology. They advised that as the whole industry is in infant stage, firms engaged in R&D should not “teach more than they are learning” in the new year.