Blockchain has the potential to transform business and people's lives, "says BNDES president

Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) technologies were discussed at the international seminar 'Disruptive Technologies for Public and Financial Services' held on Monday (14) at the headquarters of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in Rio de Janeiro .to increase transparency and data integrity, managers from various segments, such as banks, multinationals, academics from various institutions were present, as well as current BNDES president Joaquim Levy, the institution's news agency reported.

During Disruptive Technologies for Financial and Public Services, the original title of the seminar, participants share experiences on how to employ blockchains and DLTs in creating financial products to improve public services.

"BNDES is committed to innovation and technologies that increase productivity and allow the emergence of new markets. Blockchain is a type of technology with the potential to transform not only the business environment, but also the lives of people, "said the president of the institution Joaquim Levy during the event.

According to Julio Ramundo, superintendent of the BNDES Industry and Services Area, the use of digitalisation in financial services and the increase of transparency in response to society's demands are the central priorities of the agency.

He pointed out that the BNDES recognizes that innovations such as these that are emerging are essential for development and that the institution has always supported these initiatives by listing a number of them. The highlight, however, was for the ideaLab program, BNDES Token, a project that has been developed since March last year.

The purpose is for the system to allow the tracking of the application of public resources in credit operations with public entities and non-reimbursable operations, says the Agency.

"Blockchain technology has the potential to impact all sectors of the economy," commented Leonardo Neves, an analyst at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) during his speech.

He believes that even with so many challenges to deploy these innovations, such as scalability and data quality, it is worthwhile because of the intrinsic benefits of new technologies such as immutability, decentralization, and transparency.