Banking on blockchain: Costs savings thanks to the blockchain technology

This paper looks at the challenges and opportunities of implementing blockchaintechnology across banking, providing food for thought about the potentialities of this disruptivetechnology. The blockchain technology can optimize the global financial infrastructure, achievingsustainable development, using more efficient systems than at present. In fact, many banksare currently focusing on blockchain technology to promote economic growth and acceleratethe development of green technologies. In order to understand the potential of blockchaintechnology to support the financial system, we studied the actual performance of the Bitcoin system,also highlighting its major limitations, such as the significant energy consumption due to the highcomputing power required, and the high cost of hardware. We estimated the electrical power andthe hash rate of the Bitcoin network, over time, and, in order to evaluate the efficiency of the Bitcoinsystem in its actual operation, we defined three quantities: "economic efficiency", "operationalefficiency", and "efficient service". The obtained results show that by overcoming the disadvantagesof the Bitcoin system, and therefore of blockchain technology, we could be able to handle financialprocesses in a more efficient way than under the current system.