All,
There have been more and more discussions about banks exploring blockchain technology for various applications, one of which of course is money. For example there was a recent article on coin telegraph
http://cointelegraph.com/news/amidst-spike-in-bitcoin-price-japans-largest-bank-tests-blockchain-based-coin which talks about a major Japanese bank issuing their own cryptocurrency backed by the yen. I was just wondering what peoples thoughts are on banks trying to get into this space and the potential advantages and dis-advantages of such a system.
I can see how it would be an advantage for the bank to use the blockchain in a psuedo-open way so that business and people could process payments without having to use a payment processor. Beyond this I only see disadvantages. First, using the coin implies you are taking counter-party risk with the bank. Second, you are tying the value of the cryptocurrency to fiat, which is taking counter-party risk against the currency.
Would anyone here choose to use a such a system? Thoughts?