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VeChain Joins PwC’s blockchain Accelerator in Hong Kong

VeChain Joins PwC’s blockchain Accelerator in Hong Kong

PwC and BitSE held a signing ceremony on Monday in Hong Kong with Raymund Chao, PwC Greater China Chairman, and DJ Qian, CEO of BitSE and VeChain, to make the agreement official. A second signing ceremony was held in Singapore on May 17 with Mr. Qian and Yeoh Oon Jin, PwC Singapore’s Executive Chairman.

“In the journey of a joint business relationship between PwC and BitSE, we are delighted to achieve this significant milestone together with PwC. VeChain S.E.A, a subsidiary of BitSE, will focus on accelerating VeChain business expansion in Southeast Asia,” said DJ Qian, a former IBM executive who left the multinational technology firm in 2013 to join the blockchain industry.

“Besides technology, industry know-how and market experiences are equally important to apply blockchain technology. We share the same vision with PwC to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of trust in supply chain management. I believe this in-depth cooperation will definitely accelerate the transformation of supply chain management.”

VeChain, which launched in November 2016, is an enterprise software designed to create, manage, maintain and update shared data about products in the supply chain. VeChain is a state-of-the-art collaboration platform, making the supply chain more transparent and solving important problems that exist in the modern supply chain. So far, this platform has already been adopted by several established companies as part of their production system in industries such as luxury, fashion, logistics, pharmaceuticals, automotive, food safety, and wine and spirits.

PwC’s incubator program will help VeChain accelerate its deployment in Hong Kong and South East Asia, as well as offer the blockchain startup strategic advice. PwC will also provide more resources, industry know-how and blockchain research to improve the design of VeChain and solve even more problems than the platform already does while expanding into more industries and onboarding more clients.

“Embracing advanced technology for growth becomes the top priority for many business sectors,” says Mr. Chao. “Innovative applications and solutions could improve the effectiveness of supply chain, brand reputation, and even customer experience. We are excited about the joint initiative between PwC and BitSE and the VeChain services we provide that could help our clients achieve greater success. I envisage our services will create an impact and deliver on our firm’s purpose of building trust in society and solve important problems.”

Mr. Oon Jin added:

“Disruption is here to stay in our current volatile business environment and it brings both opportunities and challenges. We firmly believe that it is through embracing disruptive change that allows innovation to flourish. This is an exciting milestone for us, and we are confident that together with VeChain we will bring more value to the marketplace through collaborative innovation.”

PwC’s global network features more than 223,000 professionals across industries. BitSE’s more than 70 employees worldwide and over 50 professional blockchain application developers make it one of the largest blockchain-focused startups. The two companies partnered one year ago to promote blockchain adoption in Asia and around the world.

About BitSE

BitSE (short for Bit Service Expert) provides blockchain-enabled, enterprise-grade software infrastructures tested and documented for enterprise. As a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) company, BitSE lowers the costs of doing business. The company was established in 2013. As one of the first blockchain technology research teams in China, BitSE has more than 70 employees worldwide, including more than 50 professional blockchain application developers working to implement digital asset and blockchain technology designed for enterprises. BitSE’s blockchain-enabled technology is transforming enterprise operations in the same way that the Internet changed content creation. BitSE’s open-source, collaborative software approach ensures the transparency, longevity, and interoperability that blockchain-enabled technologies need.

About PwC – Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore

PwC China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore work together on a collaborative basis, subject to local applicable laws. Collectively, we have around 800 partners and 20,000 people in total.

PwC provide organisations with the professional service they need, wherever they may be located. Our highly qualified, experienced professionals listen to different points of view to help organisations solve their business issues and identify and maximise the opportunities they seek. Our industry specialisation allows us to help co-create solutions with our clients for their sector of interest.

PwC offices are located in these cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenyang, Dalian, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wuhan, Changsha, Xi’an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau, Taipei, Chungli, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Singapore.

How Blockchain is consolidating Financial Services

Bitcoin is primarily a medium of exchange that would replace the existing monetary system. Owing to the low transaction fee, non-requirement of a third party and ease of transaction it is being looked as a really good alternative for fiat currencies. Bitcoin powered by ledger based technology, enables the transactions to be peer to peer and anonymous. Ironically the ledger based technology is finding applications in the field of financial services. The transformative potential of Blockchain technology has made it very viable for quick adoption in many sectors. Let’s look into how Blockchain is transforming fintech:

Blockchain in Trade Settlement:

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One of the most important aspects of Trading is the settlement of trades and the balancing of money. After a trade, it would take sufficient amount of time to cross check the trades and validate them. Transfer of funds to the stake holders’ accounts takes place on completing the validation, . Typically this process would take atleast 12-28 days with the money held up during this period.

This would be loss of investment opportunities and  Blockchain technology has a solution for it. CEO of overstock.com Patrick Byrne, introduced ‘Tee zero’ a securities trading platform that drastically reduced settlement time for equity trading. The platform banks on Blockchain technology and has great flexibility in trade dealings. Major banks have been working on a similar platform for credit card settlements and operations.

Blockchain for cross border transactions:

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Cross border transactions have a long wait period before yielding to utilizable value. Cross border transactions across banks are no exception to this. To avoid the exposure during this wait period banks opt for multiple hedging strategies.

US based startup R3, along with 12 global banks, created a cross-border payment system. Financial technology company Ripple developed this system, totally powered by blockchain technology. This alliance was able to successfully complete testing of transactions over this network and is soon to put this into application.

Blockchain for Mortgage valuations:

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Hong Kong banks are reportedly developing a system that uses blockchain tech to share information about mortgage valuations. Bank of China and HSBC are among a group of lenders in the region that are testing the system. If fully realized, the system will include participants from Hong Kong, who will contribute valuation data. While the system is still under testing, the proposed mortgage valuation system looks promising. Bank of China will be integrating live inside their operations sometime next month. This is set to change the face of mortgage valuations and ease the operational burdens on the banks.