It was around this time last year when I first started looking into blockchain technology and its capabilities. Even though blockchain technology was initially developed to accommodate Bitcoin transactions, my personal interest has been much more in its potential to act as “shared ledgers” for a wide variety of transactions or ‘contracts’ (see Fig. 1–2 below):
Fig. 1 — High level outline of smart contracts via shared ledgers — Taken from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492972/gs-16-1-distributed-ledger-technology.pdf
Fig. 2 — High level outline of distributed ledger technology — Taken from: http://www.thegeniusworks.com/2016/02/blockchain-from-geeky-bitcoin-technology-to-a-revolution-in-everyday-processes/
In the past year, I’ve seen a lot of initiatives and companies pop up in the shared ledger space. I’ve looked at the likes of Abra, Ripple and R3. London based Fintech startup Cobalt is another promising player in the shared ledger arena. Andy Coyne, Cobalt’s Co-Founder and CEO, explains the problems that Cobalt is looking to solve:
“The speed at which trades are executed between participants across every corner of the globe has altered on a scale that previously seemed unimaginable, while competitiveness has increased and costs related to market access and execution have shrunk.
In contrast with execution technology, associated post-trade infrastructure has failed to keep pace. Legacy systems and practises being used to support these processes have changed little since their inception; they are now so inefficient and unfit for purpose that they introduce risk and unnecessary cost, having a serious impact on trading institutions’ profitability. This comes at a time when there is a move away from revenue to a real focus on true profitability.
The root cause is a glaring mismatch, where back office processes that evolved to support profitable voice and proprietary trading of 25 years ago are failing to support high volume, low margin electronic trading.
This is exemplified by the huge degree of unnecessary replication. A single transaction executed in today’s trading environment creates multiple records for buyer, seller, broker, clearer and third parties, introducing inconsistencies throughout lifecycle events such as affirmation, netting, allocations and confirmation, through to trade finality and nostro reconciliation. This hugely increases the probability of creating discrepancies, caused by multiple system hand-offs, normalisation and reconciliations. High frequency trading firms are particularly vulnerable, incurring huge costs for high volumes of low value tickets.”
Fig. 3 — Andy Coyne, Co-Founder and CEO of Cobalt on his company’s mission — Taken from: http://www.cobaltdl.com/blockchain/
In short, Cobalt are trying to remove any inefficiencies and unnecessary (operational) costs or risks related to the processing of foreign exchange (‘FX’) trades. Using the blockchain and its shared ledger functionality, Cobalt aims to simplify the way in which foreign exchange transactions are being processed. Instead of creating multiple records for one and the same transaction, Colbalt creates a single view. It this thus looks to significantly reduce the number of system hand-offs and reconciliations for one transaction, typically inherent in current processing of FX trades by legacy systems.
Cobalt’s focus is predominantly on the “post-trade” phase, and the risks and costs currently associated with this phase (see Fig. 4 below):
Fig. 4 — Potential benefits of Blockchain for capital markets — Taken from: http://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/global/en/2016/feb/BlockChain-In-Capital-Markets.pdf
Main learning point: By providing a single view of a transaction between multiple parties, Cobalt aims to significantly increase the transparency of FX trades and remove complex back-end systems and processes i.e. banking legacy systems.
Related links for further learning:
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-banks-forex-blockchain-citigroup-idUSKBN14413A
- http://uk.businessinsider.com/citi-invests-in-foreign-exchange-blockchain-startup-cobalt-dl-2016-12
- https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492972/gs-16-1-distributed-ledger-technology.pdf
- http://www.chyp.com/sharing-ledgers/
- http://www.thegeniusworks.com/2016/02/blockchain-from-geeky-bitcoin-technology-to-a-revolution-in-everyday-processes/
- http://www.cobaltdl.com/blockchain/
- http://www.fxweek.com/fx-week/news/2475678/first-commercial-dl-solution-to-handle-14bn-daily-transactions
- http://financefeeds.com/this-is-not-a-noise-this-is-serious/
- http://cobaltdl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Blockchain.pdf
- http://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/global/en/2016/feb/BlockChain-In-Capital-Markets.pdf
