Les effets de la blockchain sur l'intermédiation financière : menace ou opportunité ?

Abstract

Nowadays, most people use banking services in order to make a payment or to send money abroad. We say that the banks play the role of financial intermediary. Although, these banking services are costly and take time to be carried out. Due to this and the financial crisis, people are more and more doubtful to use the financial institutions. Consequently, an unknown person using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto invents the first crypto-money called bitcoin in 2008. This no-regulated virtual money is created by the new technology called "Blockchain". This technology is going to change the world. Someone won't pass through an intermediary anymore to make exchange with someone else because he will be able to make it through the Blockchain. In my thesis, I'm focusing on the impacts of this new technology on the financial intermediation. I would like to answer these following questions throughout this work: which are the effects of the Blockchain on the financial intermediation: opportunity or threat? Does the role of the financial intermediaries will change in the future? Do the banks can transform the threat in an opportunity thanks to a bank’s interest in the Blockchain? To find the answers, I write firstly about the current financial system to get a good understanding of the different roles that can run a financial institution and also the advantages and disadvantages of this financial institution. Then, I do a focus on the Blockchain with its real applications, its pros and cons, and its costs. Finally, I explain why the banks are forced to develop their intermediation with the Blockchain. Thanks to this thesis, we can conclude that the Blockchain is a great opportunity for the banking sector to develop their financial intermediation. Indeed, this technology has several advantages: trust without trusted third party, efficiency, costs cutting, better velocity and higher security in the transactions. Right now, the banks have to innovate their intermediation though the Blockchain. Otherwise, their roles of intermediaries could be deleted.