Blockchain was first introduced in 2008 as the underlying technology of Bitcoin, a digital currency that promised to revolutionise the financial system by allowing people to send money over the internet free from central control, making transactions simpler, faster, cheaper, and as a result, more inclusive (Meunier, 2018). Since then, blockchain technology has developed a life of its own and created its own revolutionary movement based on the pillars of security, immutability, and transparency. But has it reached what it was set out to do? Did it democratise finance by bringing more active participants to the financial markets?
In this dissertation, I assess the impact blockchain technology has already made on society, particularly in the financial sector. In addition to that, to answer the above question, the focus of this research is placed on the portion of the society to whom the technology could benefit the most, the unbanked/underbanked population in Southeast Asia an area of the world known for its financial/technological disparities.
Additionally, I explore the issues faced by the unbanked population in Southeast Asia and propose a solution captured by a business plan charting how blockchain technology could mitigate these issues. To keep this exercise efficient and clear, I narrow these target down to three countries within Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore – on a blended basis of varied levels of proportion of population under the poverty line, age profiles, phone penetration rates and levels of socioeconomic development.
The research shows that blockchain technology did bring more participants to financial markets, but that this was disproportionately the case for large institutions and well-established individuals in the middle and upper levels of society, rather than the unbanked, poorer sections of the population that need it most.
The focus then shifts to how this can be addressed. Some steps have already been taken in this context, particularly in the field of Peer-to-Peer transactions, but it is not yet enough. Specifically, the paper proposes appropriate solutions to speed this process up, particularly through partnerships between fintech companies and traditional Asian businesses that know the markets and, critically, that are known by the market.
Marina Miranda de Mattos
Master in Marketing Alumna, 2021
