PWC are to collaborate with BitSE, a Chinese consultancy, in providing professional services for Asia Pacific market regarding blockchain technology.
PwC China signed a formal alliance with BitSE – a Shanghai-based blockchain start-up. Together, the two firms plan to leverage their respective strengths to bring blockchain technology to the China market through one-stop solutions. Blockchain, or “distributed ledger”, technology has been used for a number of years but rose to prominence along with the explosive rise of Bitcoin in 2013. Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
“Blockchain is a disruptive technology,” said Jim Woods, PwC’s Risk & Regulatory Services Leader for Asia Pacific, at the signing ceremony. “Just as the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and commerce since it first emerged for wide-scale use in the mid-1990s, Blockchain is going to be similarly transformative. It will change the way business is conducted across many industries, especially Financial Services. In the new world of digital disruption, our clients expect PwC to provide greater trust and confidence around their business model innovation. Our alliance with BitSE will ensure that we supplement PwC’s market leadership position with a deep technical capability to help our clients design and implement innovative blockchain solutions.”
“Blockchain technology has a wide range of potential applications,” said BitSE CEO Qian Dejun. “More clients will focus on blockchain and start to adopt it in their industries in the near future. PwC has extensive expertise and advisory experience, which will help us to promote these new solutions in the market.”
Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology enables secure transactions between two parties without the need of an intermediary, such as a bank. Some major corporations have developed internal blockchain systems to manage transfers and other payments between different business units. Blockchain is also being used to develop ‘smart contracts’….
PwC China Fintech Partner William Gee said “Together, we aim to be the first professional services team to enable adoption of blockchain business solutions in China and Hong Kong for financial services, governments and other industry clients.”
“Although the market acceptance of blockchain and the pace of R&D has been a bit slower in China than in western countries, we believe that by teaming up with PwC we can speed up research into and the use of blockchain in the China and Hong Kong market,” said BitSE CTO Shuai Chu.
PwC and BitSE are working closely with several local financial institutions to explore and develop plans to implement blockchain applications in near future.
