Blockchain Technology in Banking and Financial Services Daniel Rozycki Payments Consultant Payments, Standards, & Outreach Group Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis EPCOR Payments Conference Spring 2017 May 24, 2017 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the presenter & not those of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal Reserve Bank.
Agenda The Innovation History What is it? How does it work? The Hype Use cases Foundations and considerations The Work Ahead Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the presenter & not those of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal Reserve Bank. 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 2
The Innovation How can computers trade value? 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 3
Cost of Bitcoin $1,500 $1,200 $900 $600 $300 $- Trustless, decentralized and open source Unregulated and global Distributed and pseudonymous Source: Blockchain.info 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 4
Colored Coins Show Blockchain Potentials Tie a virtual certificate of ownership to a blockhain asset Registry and trade without 3 rd party confirmations Immediate settlement and clearing Replace paper records and signatures Multi-party coordination on a shared system 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 5
What Is the Real Potential for Blockchain? The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet of information. The second generation powered by blockchain technology is bringing us the Internet of value: a new platform to reshape the world of business and transform the old order of human affairs for the better. Don Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business and the World. 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 6
Distributed Ledger Technology DLT Assembles Mostly Familiar Concepts Blockchain Immutability Consensus History Geography Accessibility Storage and power Cloud Commuting Cryptographic security Authentication *Confidentiality Immediacy Authorization Peer-to-peer database Smart contracts (application layer) Automation Conditional Execution 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 7
Hashing is at the Root of the Blockchain Innovation Cryptographic hashes detect source document changes Part of the Transaction Data Terms of the Agreement Hash Key 23909384302934 Cryptographic Algorithm Hash 234A4F290F0234KJU4093R23U 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 8
Blockchain: Cryptographic Locks on History A hash of the block of transactions makes a unique signature work fits the next block of transactions consecutive blocks include previous hash Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 9
DLT is Not One Size Fits All Private Implementation Scenarios Public 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 10
Features of a Blockchain System Consensus: Parties to a shared fact are all aware, and aware of each others awareness. (Everyone has a copy of the true and accurate ledger, rather than just their inhouse books) Validity: Rules of processing are public, so anyone can see if an update is valid (no need to rely on an internal check from each party). Immutability: a valid series of updates can never be rewritten. Authentication: Digital signatures assure you of a fully auditable and attributable record without central authority oversight.
Concerning Consensus Proof of Work Computationally intensive problem computing power Proof of Stake Allotted responsibility Share of ownership Byzantine Fault Tolerance Signed votes rebroadcast in multiple rounds 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 12
The Hype 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 13
Many Early Concepts Do Not Achieve Reality Source: Udayan Banerjee Technology Trend Analysis Blog 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 14
Financial Services Uses Cases Ripe for disruption? Blockchains provide: Reduced intermediaries Public histories, identification, and reputation Multi-party coordination Automated rules and enforcement Source: World Economic Forum, The future of financial infrastructure: An ambitious look at how blockchain can reshape financial services 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 15
Trust Without Authority Resiliency 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 16
Resiliency What are the real storage conditions on the cloud? If any one system fails there are there duplicates of the database distributed in multiple locations? =? 2016 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 17
Transparency Idealized Implementation Source: Erik Anderson, Bloomberg, X9 & W3C Web Payments Real Issues Privacy vs. Verfiability Data Sensitivity and on- Chain Storage Permissioning and Administration 2016 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 18
Immutability and Security Can business errors or hacks be rewritten? What if consensus can be attacked by bad actors? Can cryptography age well? 2016 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 19
Automation How do you get information about external events? Is computerized code legally enforceable? 2016 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 20
What Are the Legal Implications of Blockchain? Enforceability & Adjudication Regulatory & Compliance 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 21
The Work Ahead 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 22
Can a Distributed Ledger Deliver on Financial Services Requirements? Recourse Accuracy Resiliency Compliance Security Auditability DLT Confidentiality 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 23
Notable Blockchain Efforts Payments network Software v1.0 2017 Pilots and Proofs of Concept Utility Settlement Coin NASDAQ pre-ipo Most large banks R3 Blockchain-Inspired 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 24
Can Standards Help? What is the right balance between innovation & stability/interoperability? Innovation Standards 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 25
Immutability vs. Upgradeability, Decentralization, and Remediation Cryptographic Algorithms What algorithms are most secure? What key length will suffice for how long? How do you migrate to stronger security when needed? Administration Is there a need to identify the scheme systematically? How are keys distributed and replaced? Errors and Security Compromise Who can correct the record if an unauthorized transaction is made? How do you implement newly required regulations? Who finds a mistake and how do you correct it? 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 26
Smart Contracts vs. Complexity, Security, and Enforceability What Operations are Technically and Legally Permissible? Off-Chain Interactions Programming Languages Security of Code Installation and Modification Security of Code Execution 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 27
What s the Point of Blockchain? Moore s Law of trust? Paper Book entry Digitized Digital? 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 28
We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction. 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 29
Questions? 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Materials are not to be used without consent. 30