Australian Senate: Blockchain will take over fintech in a decade

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Blockchain technology will be the key to all financial technology (fintech) and regulatory technology (regtech) companies, a report by the Australian Senate has claimed. The report called for adoption of blockchain and other emerging technologies as the country faces its first recession in three decades.

The report was tabled by Senator Andrew Bragg, the chair of the Aussie Senate’s Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology.

“As Australia faces its first recession in 30 years, it’s clear we need more jobs and the only way to do that is to embrace technology and become globally competitive. It is my hope this interim report can be seen as a series of quick wins: new jobs and more choice,” Sen. Bragg stated in his report.

One of the key technologies the report recommended is blockchain. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology are mentioned dozens of times in the report, which also projected that blockchain’s potential will hit $175 billion within the next five years, and $3 trillion by 2030.

The fintech industry will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of blockchain and is expected to lead in adoption of the technology.

The paper stated, “Most fintech and regtech projects will either be built predominantly on distributed ledger technology or blockchain or heavily using that within the next 10 years,” quoting Michael Bacina, a partner at Australian law firm Piper Alderman.

Sen. Braggs also called on the Aussie government to provide further clarity on how it intends on supporting software development in the country, such as through tax incentives.

Aside from blockchain, the Committee recommended a raft of measures that it believes can help Australia to bounce back in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. They include the creation of a body that will seek to root out anti-competitive behavior in the country and regular assessment of the country’s global competitive position.

The Committee believes that Australia can take over as the Asia-Pacific fintech hotspot, taking advantage of Hong Kong’s decline as a financial center.

Just days ago, an Australian food industry organization recommended the use of blockchain to fight fraud in the country’s food industry. In its report, Food Innovation Australia stated that blockchain could stamp out the widespread counterfeit products in the food and wines industry, which lead to $1.7 billion in annual losses.