• The chief technology officer at Bank of America has stated that blockchain hasn’t found use cases yet
• Meanwhile, BoA has a substantial history of filing for blockchain-related patents

While blockchain has been used in a variety of industries, one of its most common applications takes place within the financial industry. This is because the global economy is always evolving and funds are always being moved and blockchain can help keep adequate records and cryptocurrency, its most famous product, is both an investment tool and a means of payment.

With this, one could easily assume that blockchain has found its practical usage in some of the biggest financial institutions. But according to a May 14, 2019, interview with Catherine Bessant, the chief technology officer at Bank of America, blockchain has yet to find proper use cases for the financial services sector.

Financial players still skeptical

This statement is not entirely surprising as executives from both MasterCard and Wells Fargo’ had stated previously that while blockchains had a lot of potential and many pilots cases, they have not yet found a concrete use within the financial services sector.

Bessant further reiterated this point by stating that she believes blockchain has a lot of ‘sound and fury, yet to signify something’:

“I believe that there are use cases that make sense today, we have yet to find them at scale in financial services. We’re experimenting heavily, we have more patents than any other financial institution in the blockchain space, but have yet to find something that makes a difference for our clients or our customer.”

Bank of America collecting patents

The statement from Bessant is rather telling as blockchain patents are filed regularly and many pilots take place on a regular basis. However, it seems that none of these pilots have produced the results necessary to justify widespread use just yet.

However, it should be noted that blockchain piloting within the financial services industry is not a fully matured arm of the industry and that such there is currently a lot of trial-and-error going on. This trial-and-error took place in many aspects of the industry such as fundraising and the launching of cryptocurrencies themselves after which the most serious projects were left while the fluff was gone with the wind.

As with any emerging Industry, there is a lot of experimentation and not all are viable on the long-term.  Hopefully, in time, proper uses for blockchain will be found both inside and outside of the financial services industry and more clarity will be achieved.