> Can anyone explain what "blockchain" brings to the table here compared to traditional banking? If you want to distribute money to everyone, you want to verify real-world identities, which seems like the exact opposite of the typical use case blockchain is paraded around for.
Private, permissioned "blockchain"-like technologies (the kind being discussed in the enterprise market) would give you exactly the type of identity solution you need.
A shared inter-bank ledger that individuals could register accounts with, which also incotporates the appropriate level of privacy and authorization, would enable seamless verification and transfer activities at scale.
Why the complexity of a "private, permissioned blockchain" compared to the traditional databases subject to periodic audits that the world already runs on, are proven to work and are conceptually much simpler? It seems like a solution in search of a problem.
It's a fair question. The answer is that systems like this - that are real in their offering and not a pipe dream - are not promoting to replace traditional databases. Blockchain is a terrible term with tons of baggage so let me describe what I mean in more detail.
These solutions in my mind are better described as distributed systems that allow independent verification and audit of data and transactions from within the system itself.
This is useful when the data being shared involved spans multiple entities in terms of responsibility, ownership, value, and other impacts. Rather than having to rely on other mechanisms of verification the system itself is able to provide that verifiability at scale.
Essentially you're using a technology layer, which is a collection of existing concepts put together in a somewhat novel use, to disintermediate more expensive verification solutions.
I think it makes a lot of sense if you examine the value chain of securities lending (from creation of the instrument, custody, to lending, custody transfer, and finally audit and compliance).
Private, permissioned "blockchain"-like technologies (the kind being discussed in the enterprise market) would give you exactly the type of identity solution you need.
A shared inter-bank ledger that individuals could register accounts with, which also incotporates the appropriate level of privacy and authorization, would enable seamless verification and transfer activities at scale.