Financial assets: shares, bonds and other investment instruments
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:48 am
“Your checkbook is a separate ledger, but your bank has its own ledger associated with your account. The blockchain is essentially an electronic version of those two ledgers,” said Oracle software architect Todd Little. Each party has access to the deposit and the ability to withdraw funds. Entries made to the ledgers are visible to both parties, controlled by smart contracts that determine which party can view or add entries to the ledger, Little added.
But, as mentioned, financial transactions are not the only application for blockchain. “The technology can be used to record any data or asset that can be tagged and individually entered into a ledger,” says Rick Meszaros, chief commercial officer at Accenture Mobility, citing the following examples of blockchain applications:
business assets: buildings, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, natural resources;
real estate: rights to real estate, rights to the malta mobile database of minerals, land ownership;
private property: cars, art, jewelry, retirement accounts;
intangible assets: IP addresses, brand names, copyrights;
digital assets: music, video, advertising or informational materials.
Blockchain can protect any encrypted block of documents linked chronologically or in the order of transactions. Such a block could consist of “smart records” — archived corporate and legal documents, or “smart contracts” that display the financial activity for each transaction, its terms, and additional agreements, using a chain of records for this purpose. Grant Thornton financial adviser Len Steinmetz notes that these contracts could be agreements to exchange legal documents for real estate titles, commodity swaps for the delivery of precious metals, or bilateral agreements between trusted parties that use DLT technology.
But, as mentioned, financial transactions are not the only application for blockchain. “The technology can be used to record any data or asset that can be tagged and individually entered into a ledger,” says Rick Meszaros, chief commercial officer at Accenture Mobility, citing the following examples of blockchain applications:
business assets: buildings, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, natural resources;
real estate: rights to real estate, rights to the malta mobile database of minerals, land ownership;
private property: cars, art, jewelry, retirement accounts;
intangible assets: IP addresses, brand names, copyrights;
digital assets: music, video, advertising or informational materials.
Blockchain can protect any encrypted block of documents linked chronologically or in the order of transactions. Such a block could consist of “smart records” — archived corporate and legal documents, or “smart contracts” that display the financial activity for each transaction, its terms, and additional agreements, using a chain of records for this purpose. Grant Thornton financial adviser Len Steinmetz notes that these contracts could be agreements to exchange legal documents for real estate titles, commodity swaps for the delivery of precious metals, or bilateral agreements between trusted parties that use DLT technology.