World Bank President: Everyone Is Excited About Blockchain, Not Bitcoin

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, was bullish about Blockchain technology when he spoke with CNBC during an interview. However, while expressing his positive views of the technology, he was quick to point out that there are risks when it comes to Blockchain technology derivatives like Bitcoin. When asked if the Blockchain based currencies were viable, he said:

"Blockchain technology is something that everyone is excited about, but we have to remember that Bitcoin is one of the very few instances [of Blockchain’s use in currency]. And the other times when Blockchain was used they were basically Ponzi schemes, so it’s very important that if we go forward with it, we're sure that it’s not going to be used to exploit.”

The World Bank functions as a lending house for national governments in order to provide needed capital. The institution has already been considering Blockchain technology solutions for some time, particularly in areas of financial transparency.As the interview progressed, Kim’s views on Bitcoin became more clear, as he compared it with Chinese giant Alibaba, in terms of the speed and accuracy of transactions. He commented that with Alibaba, a transaction of $160,000 takes just ‘three seconds’ and that the company was able to assess the creditworthiness of the transaction in that amount of time. The implication being that Bitcoin is unnecessary when legacy models can do similar things.