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.

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

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.

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.

Banks have suddenly cottoned on to the power of the blockchain technology beneath Bitcoin. Inside their own treasuries and innovation labs, and increasingly in collaboration, banks are testing uses for rebranded distributed ledgers to replace their costly, proprietary systems. Enthusiasts see banks creating a new fabric for payments transfer and financial markets, an internet of money. Doubters sense it’s all hype. Big challenges remain, but markets from private equity and syndicated loans to corporate bonds and derivatives may go on private blockchains within months.

Banks are suddenly obsessed with potential of the distributed ledger in financial markets, but regulators must make sure it is used in ways that remove collusion and wrongdoing.