In part 3 of our chat with Todd Billings from USDV Capital we discussed the impact that Blockchain is having in Capital Markets now and in the future.
Don’t forget to watch parts one and two, where we talked about how USDV Capital uses technology to combine loans from several different service providers.
Katipult: Could we pivot into some of the technology trends we expect to be coming soon? The big one in our space is really Blockchain. I'm curious to get your take on where Blockchain is making a difference to you and, more broadly, in the sector that you're in?
Are you seeing it being used more as a trading ledger, or is it still a little bit more of a shiny new thing that people are trying to figure out what to do with it?
Todd Billings: It's definitely in the shiny new box category. I've engaged vendors for our crowdfunding solutions that have blockchain capabilities, but we don't use the Blockchain capability if that makes sense.
We are really looking at future-proofing our business for when it becomes important and working with vendors who are at least following along and investing in that technology.
Whenever I think about investing, I always like to have some skin in the game. So even when crowdfunding became available with the Jobs Act in the US, I didn't think it was good enough to track it. I decided we needed to invest in that technology, and we had actually engaged Katipult back in 2013 or so to start working on a solution for us.
And so, when I look at vendors and blockchain, I’m interested if they investing in this space. Because if they don't, and they're just talking about it, then they're probably not truly tracking it.
We may have heard the great buzzwords, but until you put money behind it and you don't necessarily know what you don't know.
But I think the potentials are great for Blockchain. When I think of Blockchain, the one word that comes to mind is trust, right? The idea is that I should be able to trust this ledger that theoretically is immutable, especially as there are so many things we take for granted when it comes to a ledger.
Real estate is a perfect example. When we buy a house, we get the title to that home. And for whatever reason, we have to go out and buy title insurance from an insurance company, and they guarantee that there is nothing out there regarding whoever had a claim on this property.
What Blockchain in our space would provide is a truly immutable record of transfer of ownership, and so you would not need an insurance company per se to insure the title on the house because you have a trusted ledger that takes out.
The real need for insurance might be Blockchain insurance, in case there was ever some issue with the chain.
So I think the future of this technology is going to change how we do business. We're still in the very early stages, but I think 10, 20, or 50 years from now, blockchain will be a normal part of everyday business that will take for granted.
Check back soon for the final part of our conversation when we discuss Chat GPT and other future technology trends in Capital Markets.
