SNB Sees Blockchain Scope for Payments, Securities Settlements

The technology on which digital currencies such as Bitcoin are based has the scope to reshape securities settlement and cross-border payment systems, according to the Swiss National Bank.

“The underlying distributed ledger technology does indeed have potential, especially in complex areas such as securities settlement and cross border payment transactions,” SNB Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler said in a speech in Zurich on Thursday. “Nevertheless, the technology still has to prove itself in practice.”