Bank of America, the American multinational banking giant is trying to use blockchain to transform their cash handling. United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently published a new Bank of America blockchain patent application concerning cash handling.
Banking industry is large. Over time, the banking operations all over the world have become more and more complex. Part of this complexity arises of increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, whereas market dynamics have also contributed to this complexity.
Efficiency improvement and simplification are imperative in banking. Technology solutions are obviously important in this context. Blockchain, in particular, has significant potential for transforming the banking industry.
The following are just a few notable use cases where blockchain can help the banking industry:
- Fraud prevention;
- Simplify “Know Your Customer” (KYC);
- Asset management;
- Contract management;
- Trade financing.
Cash handling is another function in the banking industry that requires a doze of transformation. Optimally managing cash and making sure that cash is available at the right time and place can be hard in large banking institutions.
Large banks are increasingly reliant on technology, and cash handling processes need tight integration with the technology infrastructure. Blockchain can help with cash management, as experts observe.
That’s where the new Bank of America blockchain patent assumes importance.
Addressing communication challenges with cash handling
Modern-day large banks run operations of mind-boggling complexity. They serve a growing number of customers from their large number of operations centers. Cash handling is a function that must rely on the infrastructure of these operations centers.
Cash handling isn’t just manual operations, as major banks deploy cash handling devices in large numbers across their operations centers. These devices support various functions such as cash withdrawal and deposits.
Banks need tight integration of these devices with their communication infrastructure, however, that’s not easy. Bank of America intends to use blockchain to simplify this integration.
The new Bank of America blockchain patent intends to deploy, configure, and utilize cash handling devices using a blockchain-based system. The bank foresees this will help them to achieve tighter integration of these physical devices with their technology infrastructure.
Bank of America: Aggressively championing blockchain
Bank of America is consistently notching up impressive innovations using blockchain. A few examples are as follows:
- Their patent for a crypto exchange system;
- The plans for building a blockchain-powered data storage solution;
- Their proposal to use blockchain as part of their ATM-as-a-Service.
This innovation spree will likely help in blockchain adoption.
