Italian Bank Tests Validation of Trading Data
Italian banking conglomerate Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has joined Deloitte and startup Eternity Wall to test a new blockchain proof-of-concept.
The group uses the bitcoin blockchain as a means to notarize transactions, creating a publicly available record trail for later referral. Testing began late in 2016 using the open-source OpenTimeStamps protocol, developed by bitcoin core contributor Peter Todd, which Eternity Wall later moved to implement.
“Relevant data has been hashed to produce a short unique identifier – a digest – equivalent to its digital fingerprint,” said Banca Intesa Sanpaolo information security officer Carlo Brezigia. “This fingerprint has been associated to a blockchain transaction and hence registered on the blockchain: the blockchain immutability provides robust non-refutable timestamping that will always prove without any doubt the existence of that data in that specific status at that precise moment in time.”
Deloitte said the bank tested the tool between October and February, and plans include support for multiple blockchains, potentially including private ones.
“In particular, considering public blockchains, we are exploring the applicability of different use cases, abstracting from the value of its native digital currency,” said Gianni Cavallina, head of retail innovation accelerator department at Intesa Sanpaolo. “Notarization is one of the most interesting applications.” s
