Blockchain YES, blockchain NO: An outsider (non-IT expert) view

Abstract

This paper applies the rationale used for the introduction of distributed ledger technology in the consumers’ goods industry to the securities services one, on the basis that the more consumers (investors) are unnecessarily protected, the more a business can be standardised and third parties do not require protection, the more the introduction of the new blockchain/ distributed ledger technology seems to be possible. On the basis of these parameters, identified by professors Benjamin Edelman (Associate Professor at Harvard Business School) and Damien Geradin (Professor at Tilburg University and George Mason University School of Law), the author identifies a number of complexities. Consideration of these, on the one hand, suggests the introduction of the new technology to optimise products and processes by reducing costs, but on the other hand, questions its effective short-term revolutionary impact and its application at infrastructure level, where a number of other factors, including primarily the stringent requirements introduced in the post-Lehman regulated environment to the financial markets, play a significant role.