Operational cost savings: Blockchain-driven back-office automation and syndicated loan growth in U.S. banks

The cryptocurrency market has witnessed significant growth in the past few months. The emergence of hundreds of new digital currencies and the huge increase in the prices of their leading representatives have attracted a lot of attention from investors. However, the financial characteristics of the cryptocurrency markets have not been systematically evaluated yet. As a consequence, there is currently no consensus on whether cryptocurrencies constitute an individual asset class or if they share substantial similarities to stocks, bonds, commodities or foreign exchange. Based on Markowitz et al. (2017) this paper aims to fill this lack of research by evaluating the cryptocurrency market based on seven requirements of an individual asset class. The authors find that the cryptocurrency market distinguishes itself remarkably from established asset classes in terms of risk and return. Additionally, the low correlation between the cryptocurrency markets and these established asset classes induces a diversification potential for investors, leading to more favorable risk/return profiles of their portfolios. But also the emergence of investment services and products provided by the financial industry and the increasingly cost-effective access to cryptocurrencies corroborate the conclusion that cryptocurrencies can be seen as an individual asset class.

This paper investigates the interaction between decentralized financial services and the traditional banking system by building VAR models, conducting Granger causality tests, building impulse response functions, and performing variance analysis. To implement the model, banking indicators of the USA, India, and Great Britain were selected: the volume of commercial and industrial loans, interest rate, consumer price index, total liabilities and capital of banks, aggregate deposits, federal funds rate (for the USA), and repo rate (for India). The study examined central bank data of the specified countries from July 2018 to January 2024 with the TVL indicator, which measures the sum of all assets locked in DeFi protocols. The results of the impulse response function (IRF) for countries demonstrate different interactions between TVL and bank indicators. The US response to TVL shocks demonstrates a stimulative monetary policy, with significant Fed rate reductions and increased commercial lending to boost economic activity. In contrast, India’s monetary stimulus, marked by declining repo rates and growth in banking sector liabilities and deposits, aims to enhance economic resilience. The UK, however, adopts a conservative monetary approach, with sharp bank rate increases and mixed lending and deposit responses, prioritizing financial stability. Analysis across these nations highlights different impacts of financial indicators on TVL. In the US, the evolving relationship between TVL and bank indicators reflects the financial system’s complexity. India’s sensitivity to monetary policy, credit conditions, and inflation significantly influences TVL. In the UK, central bank decisions, particularly the bank rate, play a crucial role in financial market dynamics.

Acknowledgment
The authors appreciate the assistance in the preparation of the article provided by the University of Debrecen Program for Scientific Publication and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Blockchain technology has surfaced as a formidable catalyst, capable of reshaping the operational dynamics of conventional businesses. The integration of blockchain technology within the insurance industry has prompted a need for comprehensive understanding and assessment. This study aims to elucidate the relevance of blockchain in the insurance sector, identify key trends, influential research, and the overarching goals motivating the incorporation of blockchain in insurance practices. The study employed a systematic review to collect 125 research articles published between 2017 and 2023 focused on blockchain in insurance from the Web of Science database. This study used Biblioshiny. The analysis encompasses a wide range of parameters, including publication trends, influential authors, thematic clusters, and the geographic distribution of research. IEEE Access emerges as a prominent platform, hosting 11 articles dedicated to this topic. The results of keyword co-occurrence highlighted two keywords: blockchain and insurance. The results of the country collaboration map highlighted particular shortcomings, such as the concentration of research in countries like China, the USA, India, KSA, Malaysia, and Australia. A lack of research in developing and underdeveloped countries and insufficient knowledge sharing among researchers highlights a research gap. In conclusion, the analysis offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of blockchain within the insurance industry.