Bitcoin Breakthroughs Seen Copied by Banks Its Meant to Replace

Such interest in bitcoin shows how Wall Street could seek to reap benefits touted by bitcoins backers without using the virtual currency itself.

While Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett express doubts about bitcoin, executives running the financial industrys back offices are looking at mimicking the virtual currencys methods of moving money quickly and cheaply.

FIS, a provider of systems used by banks to handle payments, is examining whether a public ledger like bitcoins could help securely move funds on existing networks, Fred Brothers, the firms chief innovation officer, said in an interview. Fiserv Inc. (FISV), a provider of technology for payments and accounts, is examining bitcoins use of encryption to ensure transfers are secure, said Marc West, a senior vice president.

Such interest shows how Wall Street could seek to reap benefits touted by bitcoins backers without using the virtual currency itself. Bitcoin, proposed by an anonymous programmer or programmers in 2008, has drawn entrepreneurs and retailers looking to popularize it as a low-cost alternative to established payment systems, supplanting credit cards to international wire transfers. Instead, a variety of financial firms might copy its underlying design to hone their own systems or services sold to clients.

Its safe to say that every bank is looking at whats going on with bitcoin and those types of technologies, said Steve Kenneally, a vice president at the American Bankers Association. Most of the larger banks are investigating it. The larger the banks, the further along they are.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts wrote in a March report that while bitcoins may not make a viable currency, the technology could hold promise. The software relies on a public record of transactions. When someone spends all or part of a bitcoin, the change in ownership is recorded by a global network of computers and posted to the register, ensuring individual units cant be simultaneously held or spent by multiple people. Operators of computers solving and verifying transactions are rewarded with new bitcoins for their work.

Bitcoins are valued at about $435 today, compared with prices of more than $1,100 in December and about $13 at the start of last year, according to CoinDesk, which tracks prices across key exchanges.

Bankers including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Dimon, 58, have predicted bitcoins probably wont last after governments subject them to rules and standards akin to those for other payment systems.

I wouldnt be surprised if its not around in 10 or 20 years, Buffett, the 83-year-old billionaire chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), told CNBC in March. It does not meet the test of a currency.

Buffetts long-time business partner, Charles Munger, was less charitable this week, telling Fox Business Network that calling bitcoins rat poison would understate his disdain.

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Bitcoin Breakthroughs Seen Copied by Banks Its Meant to Replace