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Wall Street embraces Bitcoin and blockchain technology

Wall Street (Wagner T. Cassimiro Aranha_Flikr)

Financial markets world over are slowly warming up to bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology. In the past six years, not only hundreds of start-ups have emerged, but also big banks and investment firms are investing in these bitcoin-based companies.

Wall Street giants such as Visa, Nasdaq and Citi Ventures have invested $30 million in Chain.Com, a San Francisco-based blockchain developer platform that works with financial institutions to develop ways to trade and transfer financial assets using blockchain technology.

“We believe in the power of blockchain technology to transform how financial assets are transferred, but it has to be done with the right partners to insure it gets off the ground,” said Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain, in an interview.

Earlier this year, the New York Stock Exchange invested $75 million in series C funding round of Coinbase, a bitcoin wallet and exchange company. In yet another instance, Goldman Sachs supported Circle Internet Financial, a bitcoin financial services startup. 

Recently, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in his annual letter to shareholders, described the situation in the simplest terms. “Silicon Valley is coming”, as reported by Wired.

He said, “There are hundreds of startups with a lot of brains and money working on various alternatives to traditional banking... They are very good at reducing the “pain points” in that they can make loans in minutes, which might take banks weeks. We are going to work hard to make our services as seamless and competitive as theirs. And we also are completely comfortable with partnering where it makes sense.”

Wall Street leaders are recognising the potential of the budding cryptocurrency system. More and more companies are coming forward to support the bitcoin and blockchain technology. It’s just a matter of time before this digital revolution completely transforms the traditional financial system and gains global acceptance.

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