Group of Spanish Banks Set to Create Blockchain-Based System for Client Identification

An association of banks in Spain has announced the creation of a blockchain-based system that will provide their clients with digital identification verification. Called the Niuron, the consortium aims to develop the platform by the end of the year to increase the efficiency of operations and bolster its protection for itself and its clients from illicit actors, Cointelegraph reported.

Similar to other banks that have already adopted the technology, Niuron believes that it can leverage the advantages of blockchain to accelerate transactions, decrease fraud, and counter money-laundering activities. The association is also looking forward to improving their clients’ experience as the system can effectively reduce the time of the registration procedure and provide their customers with more control over their personal information.

The Niuron collective has nine banks within its fold, four of which are on the top 10 list of Spain’s largest financial institutions. After the completion of the blockchain platform, client data will be shared among these banks. The consortium will then follow the laws imposed by the recently released EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other security standards.

A regulatory foundation is slowly being developed by Spain, with the drafts inspired by the GDPR itself, as admitted by Rodrigo García de la Cruz, president of the Spanish Fintech and Insurtech Association. The country is making these efforts in order to support fintech startups, hoping that it would encourage their proliferation in the country.

However, some of GDPR’s provisions are in contradiction with the very nature of blockchain itself: immutable storage of data. For instance, the new EU regulation grants an individual the right to request deletion of their data from companies that have stored their information. This right is called the “right of erasure.” But because blockchain is a decentralized network, it’s still unclear how this right will be enforced against the technology’s immutable data storage design.

Of course, similar to a lot of things, a middle ground can always be reached. Where that middle ground lies, however, remains unknown at the moment.