As Applied Blockchain and Tallysticks progress with their invoices-on-blockchain project, the prospect of a new form of short-term capital markets funding for companies emerges.

The days of using gold for everyday transactions have long since passed, but could the blockchain change that?

Passengers have Uber, tourists have Airbnb, now Cobalt DL is beta testing the solution that aims to bring the benefits of the shared economy to FX trade settlement.

Everything you thought you knew about blockchain is wrong. Rather than wait for the blockchain to re-engineer banking, the banks are going to re-engineer the blockchain. It will not be public, it will be private. And across the shared ledger there will not be that much sharing. In an atmosphere somewhere between excitement and paranoia, banks are trying to turn an existential threat into a competitive advantage.

Banks’ experimentation with blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is gathering pace in a fevered atmosphere.

Treasurers have much to gain from the integration of decentralized ledger technology into traditional accounting environments.

Start-up is growing fast; bitcoin leg cheapens FX conversion.

Banks are taking tentative steps to integrating blockchain technology, but so far they have focused on following established payment processes.

Starting by transforming the workflows around invoices, Applied Blockchain is developing practical uses for shared ledger technology on private networks.

Shared ledger threatens change.

In the second half of 2015 hype around the potential for shared ledger technology to transform banking rose to a peak. Now comes the hard work as banks and fintech companies seek to put test cases into actual use. As the first practical applications begin to emerge, Euromoney surveys the banking market to ask what’s next for the blockchain.

Interoperability rather than exclusivity appears to be the likely path to success for corporate blockchain services.