Whilst blockchain innovation has continued to surge throughout Southeast Asia, the Ethereum blockchain appears to have become the network of choice for many financial institutions located within this particular region of the continent.
Singapore has become one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the entire world recently, with a recent report has highlighted that around 67% of the 4,348 respondents that took part had owned a form of cryptocurrency, with 78% of those who do own a digital asset being shown to own Ethereum.
Large financial institutions find Ethereum blockchain more appealing
That trend has been followed by large financial institutions within the region, which has led to discussions about why this might be the case. Whilst the notion was being discussed at the recent event hosted recently by the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance called “Ethereum in Finance: A view from Singapore.” Charles d’Haussy, Asia managing director at blockchain firm ConsenSys and event panelist, revealed that there were a number of reasons why Ethereum has become the chosen option: “From a technical perspective, different central banks and financial institutions that have been exploring various technologies always tend to come back to fundamental features, which Ethereum offers.”
When speaking about it in more specifics, d’Haussy mentioned that the digital asset had proven to be more appealing than others available because of the smart contract layer that is provided on the blockchain network that it appears, compared to the alternatives that may only offer a smart contract layer without the use of blockchain. Additionally, d’Haussy also mentioned that the Ethereum network provides financial institutions with the ability to create accounts for certain tokens.
It is not only financial institutions that have found blockchain technology incredibly useful within Asia, though, as the gambling community within the region have also managed to benefit greatly because of it. As there are many options available for those who continue to look for a crypto casino that accepts players from Asia because of the regulations and bans that they face in regards to traditional fiat currency, players have found that blockchain technology has helped them to get around the regulations installed, as they are able to make use of the decentralised nature it offers which makes it harder for them to be identified as each transaction that is made has a degree of anonymity and added security.
Financial institutions able to leverage Ethereum blockchain to benefit them
Now, it would appear that financial institutions throughout Southeast Asia are leveraging it in a number of ways to benefit them, as well, due to its unique functionalities. DBS Digital Exchange is one such company doing so, as they have revealed that they are using Ethereum because of its security token exchange: “We are using Ethereum as a permissioned blockchain for this purpose. The tokens that we are using are based on ERC-777, which is enabling us to create an exchange for this product. And because everything works on a blockchain, it replaces your traditional central depository or clearinghouse.”
The company had noted that it had looked into other blockchain networks as alternatives but decided that Ethereum was the best choice due to the ease of finding programmers who were familiar with the programming language of Solidity which is designed to develop smart contracts for the digital asset.
Furthermore, it had also been pointed out at the event by d’Haussy that “many other blockchains will not be able to provide such a rich and mature ecosystem. Therefore, it’s a no go for many financial institutions,” which is why so many have continued to opt for the Ethereum blockchain network over others that are currently available.
Conclusion
Ethereum blockchain networks are clearly popular within Southeast Asia and appear to be the choice for many when looking to find one to adopt. Naturally, with so many benefits and advantages being experienced compared to many others, it is not hard to see why it is by firms such as the financial institutions currently using it today.
(Devdiscourse’s journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)