Talent may be the big win from Blockchain

Attraction of new talent to the finance sector as a result of technology innovation could be its biggest benefit.

The main benefit of Blockchain technology on the clearing, settlement and custody market may be the talent and investment that the nascent technology has brought to the sector, according to a former Citi banker.

Speaking at the annual FinTech conference MoneyConf in Madrid, Huy Nguyen Trieu, the former head of macro structuring at Citi group, said the new technology has turned “Very boring sectors” into areas in which talented young people want to work.

He explained: “I think blockchain has a huge benefit. The main impact of blockchain may not be blockchain at all. Payments, clearing, settlement, custody were very, very, boring sectors.

“But, suddenly, you have a lot of talent. People will realise that some of these things are not efficient at all.  You might see people more interested in opportunities and doing things in a better way.”

The ex-Citi banker – who is also on the Fintech Advisory Group at the World Economic Forum – cautioned against expecting miracles from Blockchain overnight however, warning that the change be time-consuming.

He said: “Central clearing for Blockchain was suggested in 2009 in the banking system. It took seven years to get the implementation of central clearing. The technology part of that is miniscule, but when you start to touch something in banking it has ramifications everywhere.”

Huy Nguyen Trieu warned that the technology is still not there to achieve all of things that Blockchain experts are currently researching in areas such as banking and foreign exchange.

He added: “As soon as you start touching something in finance, it has implications everywhere. If you look at Bitcoin, we change around a $1 billion of Bitcoin per week. It takes about ten seconds to do the same in the FX market. In terms of scale we are not there yet.”

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