It is difficult to assess the transaction volume that needs to be met by a blockchain handling the currency of an economy like that of the U.K. or U.S. The U.S. alone is processing billions of transactions a day and over $17 trillion in value a year. That’s a lot of responsibility for a new technology! The nation would be crippled if its monetary supply were compromised.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, and central bankers from all over the world have met to discuss blockchain technology. The first step toward faster and cheaper money would be adopting a blockchain as the protocol to facilitate bank transfers and interbank settlement. Official digital currencies that ordinary citizens use on a daily basis would come much later.

Individual consumers wouldn’t directly feel the cost reduction from utilizing a blockchain for interbank settlement. The savings would be seen in the bank’s bottom line as cost reductions for fees charged by intermediaries.