IBM pushes blockchain agenda with Bluemix Garages

USA: IBM has opened an IBM Bluemix Garage in New York to help the city’s growing community of developers, entrepreneurs, and fintech companies with the blockchain projects.

The other places, wherein IBM operates Bluemix Garages are: San Francisco, London, Toronto, Nice, Tokyo, and Singapore - with more planned to open in the latter half of 2016.

In a new study, IBM describes how blockchain networks will vaporize current frictions in the economy that are inhibiting business growth.

Today, a number of obstacles -- such as participants of a transaction not having access to the same information, or the high price of intermediaries -- add costs and complexity that drags on global business and trade.

Blockchain technology, which creates a permanent and transparent record of transactions, will reduce or eliminate these frictions, recasting our institutions and economy with far greater efficiency and less risk.

Financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital rights management and healthcare are some of the areas that are poised for dramatic change using blockchain.

Through its open source contributions and resources for software developers, IBM is helping to advance the science of blockchain, helping to remove complexity and make it more accessible and open.

For example, working with the newly opened IBM Bluemix Garage in Tokyo, Mizuho Financial Group recently announced a test of the potential of blockchain for use in settlements with virtual currency. By incorporating blockchain, Mizuho will explore how payments can be instantaneously swapped, potentially leading to new financial services based on this rapidly evolving technology.