SCB adopts mixed blockchain strategy for new products

A mixed blockchain architecture strategy for both permissioned and permissionless blockchains will allow banks to provide functions and financial products in an open system to better serve their customers, according to Ms. Mukaya Panich, SCB 10x’s chief venture & investment officer.

Speaking at MIT Thailand Future Seminar 2022, Mukaya said the upcoming Web 3.0 will run on a decentralized network protocol to create more efficiency and reduced processing cost using programmable software codes and open-source financial infrastructure.

New financial products using the hybrid blockchain architecture will giver better product-market fit and reduced costs from several DeFi products.

Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa, CEO of Bitkub Group said crypto trading and payments, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-fungible Token (NFT), Tokenisation, Metaverse, Gamification, are key leading product innovation of new Finance 3.0.   Users and content creators have ownership over their data which can be monetized and incentivized for better improvement.

Web 3.0, a decentralized internet based on blockchain  technology, integrates various technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Metaverse, autonomously and simultaneously and its development and potential apps has been growing more quickly than anyone could have expected, said Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa, CEO of Bitkub Group.

Mukaya also said that SCB 10X will set up its headquarters in the virtual world sandbox in March 2022 and there are a plenty of Thai monuments to be displayed.   There is a large opportunity for Thai software developers, artists, and MIT students to work together and expand capabilities in this new decentralized internet world.

Since intermediaries are disrupted by technologies and changes in consumer behavior, how the banks and other financial service providers will have to adapt and move quickly towards the trends  and remain competitive in the markets.

The financial service providers need to educate people about new financial innovation to humanize technology.  This will also help migrate people into online banking in the next several years.

Bitkub Online, Thailand’s licensed exchange platform of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, is one of the success stories which SCB Group is going to invest and partner with.    Bitkub aims to bridge the gap between blockchain and cryptocurrency services ie crypto payment gateway, liquidity provider, investment alternatives,  crypto for merchants, to those non-tech users and businesses.

Alpha Finance Lab, a Thai startup with over USD 1 42 million market capitalisation, has been working with SCB 10X to bridge the gap between traditional banking and emerging financial technology with DeFi products under the umbrella of Alpha products.  It is an ecosystem of cross-chain DeFi products focused on building a suite of automated yield-maximizing products that interoperate to bring optimal returns.

DeFi 2.0 focuses on optimizing yields, capital allocation, and risk management purposes.