Zachary Hickey
Modern technology has revolutionized worldwide communication standards. Phone calls and e-mails, that travel directly from A to B, help maintain contact between people no matter how far apart they are. However, when dealing with wealth (or money) things become more problematic. In person, the process of transferring money is cheap, secure, and anonymous - if Alice needed to send $1 to Bob she could easily hand him the dollar with dependability and privacy. Yet, if Alice and Bob were living in different states, countries, or continents, they would have to trust a central authority to act as a validator and liaison for the transaction - adding unnecessary fringe fees and time delays.
As part of his capstone thesis project, Zachary is working alongside one other ESTEEM student to assess the market potential of integrating Blockchain, a novel method for data transfer, to facilitate cross-border payments for a leading bank. “What a blockchain does, at its most basic level, is afford two parties to transfer data immediately, securely, and with complete auditability.” says Zachary. “Introducing Blockchain to financial institutions, would enable the bank’s clients to send money overseas without fear of fraud, while also substantially reducing the accompanying bank charges and time delays associated with the current transfers”.
“This thesis has granted me the opportunity to work in an incredible driven and creative innovation team and has taught me how to work effectively so our collective intelligence can fashion a transfer system germane to the needs of the bank but more importantly, its clients”.
Zachary followed up by saying that not only has he been immersed in this swelling Financial Technology bubble but that he has developed some extremely tangible and valuable business skills as a result, all of which he hopes to transfer into whatever industry he ends up in next year.
“I hope you’re all ready for the Blockchain wave - it’s quickly gaining momentum and will soon start disrupting and evolving most industries as we know them.” concludes Zachary. “It’s truly an exciting time to be on the frontier of a technology with such promise and I would highly encourage people to learn a bit about Blockchain now to reap all its untapped benefits before it has been wholly integrated into our society.”