A vision of the crypto-future. The real cryptocurrency / blockchain revolution has not yet even begun.. Part 1 - Banking

At the moment, the biggest change that the cryptocurrencies and blockchains are making to the world (other than Steemit) is to the wallets of people that have been smart enough to invest in them, however the real value has not yet even begun to make itself known. Most people can still barely spell the word cryptocurrencies let alone figure out how to buy and sell them for profit. The most interesting opportunities are going to show up in the next 5 to 10 years. Here's my view of what to expect in the banking sector:

Savings and checking accounts will basically be gone
The bread and butter of banking is payments as well as a safe place to hold your money (i.e. earned value) between payments. Once money goes into a bank, it not yours anymore, it's just a promise to pay while they invest your money in whatever money making schemes they can dream up. On your side of the deal you get all the risk, none of the benefits, and transparency that is as opaque as a glass of milk. They could have a risk load greater than Greek bonds and you wouldn't have a clue. With this in mind, why the hell will anyone leave money in a bank unless the government forces them to do so.

The advent of a slew of new payment tools that link up and allow easy exchange of value between a lot of different crypto-currencies and markets is going blow standard retail banking away. What will be left in banking will be a bunch of smaller wealth management services as well as investment and commercial banking for the biggest customers. The average Joe will drop the standard banking model faster than you can say "global banking collapse". There is going to be a lot of kicking and screaming by the establishment on this one, but as more and more cryptos come to fore along with applications making it easy to trade them with each other, I can't see it being avoided.

Blockchain management of every asset
Current asset registrations as well as asset transfers via clearing and settlement processes are a total cluster-f**k that look like a Rube Goldberg machine. Throw in the massive fraud and corruption in the chain between the largest banks and brokers, the Depository Trust Clearing Corporation (DTCC), their subsidiary the Depository Trust Company (DTC), and their holding company CEDE & Co., and you have a recipe for total chaos. When the game of musical chairs is done and people realize that there is 1 chair for every 1,000 people that are supposed to have the same financial assets in their portfolios, no one is ever going to trust these SOBs again.

The result will be that people are going to demand blockchain registration for everything they own as a financial asset. Likely they will also demand regular independent audits of anything that is not held fully in the blockchain (e.g. precious metals). The days of assumed trust for financial institutions will disappear faster than the money people were holding with them. Blockchain will become the new keyword for "I own it" and banks and governments will be putting all their asset records on them. This will be almost instantaneous for every transaction and people will come to expect it. They won't settle for anything less.

Fully consolidated, smart, and dynamic portfolio management
The days of portfolio management by some kid relationship manager with an economics degree straight out of school will be long gone. With everything on a blockchain, the mixing and matching of investment portfolios - even dynamically - will be commonplace. People will be able to design and change their portfolios at will. With this is mind, how many people will really be needed to manage your money / financial assets? Sure for Utra High Net Worth individuals, there will still be the gold-plated treatment where a relationship manager also plans when they are going to replace their jet for them, but this is obviously the exception. For everyone else, the upside is going to be that their total financial holdings will be consolidated, much much more transparent, easier to manage, and with far more options.

In the future, you'll be able to see your whole portfolio on a single screen and then use a mixture of personal selection and AI-based portfolio management applications to do most of the heaving lifting for you in investing. This is going to kill standard wealth management in the High Net Worth segment. Real self-service options will be offered by a massive selection of Fintech companies that support you in getting access to pretty much any asset your heart desires as well as make sure you have a fully customized portfolio mix that matches your exact needs.

Well this is my initial short list of major expected changes in the banking sector. I'd be happy to see lots of additional views in the comments section as well. Please be sure to follow me to get the next installments.

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