Blockchain safer than existing systems, says IBM’s James Wallis

Recent advances with blockchain technology had already made it more secure than most of the current financial systems it could replace, according to IBM’s blockchain expert, James Wallis.

“Blockchain is already more secure now than most systems that are already out there,” IBM’s vice-president, global payments industry and blockchain, told The Australian.

Speaking on a visit to Australia, Mr Wallis rejected suggestions that the commercial use of blockchain, the technology behind the bitcoin cyber-currency, which is now be reviewed by the ASX and the big four banks, was vulnerable to hacking.

Several bitcoin operators lost millions of bitcoins in hacking attacks last year.“A lot of the computer science that has been done around blockchain is around cryptography,” Mr Wallis said.

“With the cryptographic development, blockchain is now inherently more secure than traditional systems.”

Mr Wallis was speaking ahead of a conference in Sydney this week hosted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which will discuss the current state of play on bitcoin.

Source: Blockchain safer than existing systems, says IBM’s James Wallis