PARIS: BNP Paribas is looking to add bitcoin to one of its currency funds, according to the International Business Times. The digital currency and its blockchain technology have become popular recently.
BNP has been doing “beta testing” involving the cryptocurrency, and will make an announcement soon, an unnamed spokesperson told the IBTimes UK Friday.
We are looking at blockchain technology and how it can be applied to post trade processes to make things faster and potentially cheaper, but it’s all very much a project and it’s all in testing. It’s nothing live,” the spokesperson said.
Blockchain technology is software that allows the digital currency to function and be transferred safely; it is spread across thousands of computers and servers globally. The technology is believed to secure transactions and make them transparent.
Earlier this month, BNP’s analyst Johann Palychata described bitcoin as being able to make certain industry sectors “redundant,” claiming that blockchain technology “should be considered an invention like the steam or combustion engine.”