Bitcoin, Blockchain, Distributed Ledger – Hype Or Reality?

Writing on behalf of the Guernsey Investment Fund Association, Nick Vermeulen, PwC's CI head of advisory, takes a look at the evolution of blockchain and touches on how Guernsey's financial services industry is once again remaining nimble and relevant with the introduction of this new technology in the fund marketplace.

Bitcoin was released in 2009 as a digital currency system via a simple posting to a niche mailing list. As the charts below demonstrate, over time interest has grown not only in the digital currency, but also in the underlying blockchain and distributed ledger technology. This interest has morphed into a global movement that, according to the World Economic Forum, will become the 'beating heart of finance' within five years. The underlying technology has the potential to transform not only each industry that it touches, but also the internet itself by bringing in a level of security that is clearly needed. So, what does this technology mean to us in