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Forget Bitcoin, Blockchain Is Where It's At - UBS

Josh O'Neill

16 October 2017

The world’s largest wealth manager is sceptical about crypto-currencies and is “highly doubtful” they will ever become a mainstream means of exchange, but the technology underpinning them could add as much as $400 billion annually to the economy in 10 years. 

- $400 billion of annual economic value globally by 2027.”

A blockchain is a virtual distributed ledger of transactions shared peer-to-peer that can record ownership across a public network of computers rendered tamper-proof by advanced cryptography. 

The technology is causing a stir within the financial services sector as its supporters believe it could reduce hidden expenses in the financial system by ousting inefficiencies across areas such as payments, syndicated loans and equity clearing.

Investing in blockchain is “akin to investing in the internet in the mid-nineties,” Gantori said, but admitted its “technological shortcomings still need to be resolved.”