OK, quick test. What is blockchain group IC3? And, what does that mean for Fidelity? Well we are here to tell you. First, IC3 is a select group of of tech companies (IBM, Intel) and academic institutions (Cornell, UC Berkeley, U of Illinois) that are collaborating to develop blockchain programs for financial systems. Now Fidelity? Fidelity Labs, the innovation arm of Fidelity Investments, is the FIRST financial institution to join. Not wanting to be left behind, Fidelity is getting in front of all the rapidly changing technology, and with some great company.
(Bill Taylor/CEO)
Fidelity Investments Inc has become the first financial institution to join the Initiative for CryptoCurrencies & Contracts, a group of academic institutions and technology companies looking to develop blockchain-based technology.
Fidelity Labs, the innovation arm of asset manager Fidelity, will be a member of IC3 along with Cornell University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the Technion, IBM Corp and Intel Corp, the company said in a statement.
The Boston-based fund manager will collaborate with the group to develop blockchain programs to help make financial systems more efficient and secure.
Blockchain, which first emerged as the system underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin, is a distributed record of transactions that is maintained by a network of computers, rather than a centralized authority.
Over the past two years, financial institutions have been ramping up their investments in the technology in the hopes that it can help the make some of its processes simpler and cheaper. Potential use cases range from systems to manage international payments, to programs to settle securities trades.
In a bid to accelerate development and adoption of blockchain, companies have been joining forces in several industry consortia and groups.
Banks have been more vocal about their efforts than asset managers, with most large lenders having joined a group led by New York-based startup R3. Most recently a group of 30 companies, including several banks, launched a new blockchain consortium called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance..."
Source: Reuters