Three developments that show how blockchain is firmly entrenched in the global financial system

Blockchain is about to seriously transform banking, finance, investment, and even society itself. The age of digital currencies has dawned, and more blockchain-based technologies, partnerships, alliances, and new projects are being developed and embraced.

Financial services and banking are becoming faster, cheaper, easier, and more accessible thanks to blockchain. Large companies have already completed the first stages of testing their own blockchains, integrating them not simply as standalone services but as part of their working infrastructure. At the same time, digital central bank currencies based on blockchain could become a crucial tool for reshaping the global economic system.

J.P. Morgan and Visa are merging their private blockchain networks. This should make cross-border payments easier. This is a key bottleneck in the modern banking system, where cryptocurrencies have proven to be better than a centralized banking system. J.P. Morgan and Visa are now harnessing the best part of cryptocurrency – technology – and bringing it into the banking system.

The most important area where improvements should be made is identification: incorrect data causes payments to fail, which causes 66% of failed payments. Combining and connecting Confirm Payment functions should reduce the number of failed payments, which now cost the global economy $118 billion per year.

In early 2023, Google will allow some customers to use crypto to pay for its cloud services. To that end, Google has partnered with Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange. The partnership relates to Google's cloud services: cryptocurrencies can only be used to pay for these services, but not yet for all users. In addition, Coinbase will use Google's cloud infrastructure. Over time, crypto payments should become more accessible. The difficulty in adopting blockchain technology is that different countries are developing legal frameworks for it at different rates, while the main benefit of blockchain is to facilitate international economic relations.

Researchers at a Chinese government think tank have proposed creating a digital currency for the Asian region based on 13 national currencies. The researchers call it the "Asian Yuan". Using this system would reduce Asian economies' dependence on the U.S. dollar and diversify the global economy.

The study came right after the news about the success of the digital yuan. The Bank of China reported that nearly $14 billion in transactions were conducted using the e-CNY. Some 5.6 million merchants and a large percentage of citizens are already using the currency. The development of a digital currency is also underway in Japan.

Technological advances take time, and blockchain is still on its way to becoming ubiquitous. Regulatory issues, difficulties in attracting personnel, and a lack of acceptance of transparency requirements are slowing the adoption of technology at the moment. As time goes on, there will be fewer and fewer concerns about blockchain when more large companies and international associations engage in blockchain initiatives.