Background: Blockchain is an emerging technology of great importance in Finance, Economics and
Accounting. It impacts the way we deal with and monitor financial transactions, trade, identify ourselves, and is having an impact on auditing and regulation.
Imagine that you are a compliance manager in a financial institution. Your company wants to use
Blockchain for three purposes –
1. As a mechanism for securing digital transactions and smart contracts
2. As a way of managing digital identities
3. To offer clients the chance to invest in cryptocurrencies
However, the executives are not sure of all of the benefits of these applications or possible ethical, legal and privacy issues.
You are to explain what blockchain is, explain these uses (applications) and how it will benefit yourself and the company auditors in a report, as outlined below.
Assessment Instructions
1700 words (+/- 10%)
Do your initial research from the workshops then find relevant articles on the internet to support your statements.
You are to write a report as follows:
A. Introduce the idea of blockchain and its applications in general. [400 words, 8 marks]
B. Briefly explain the applications that we are focussing on here (1, 2 & 3 above, i.e. secure
Digital transactions and smart contracts, digital IDs and investment in cryptocurrencies).
[200 words, 4 marks]
C. Describe in greater detail how and why blockchain can be applied in these three ways.
[400 words, 8 marks]
D. Describe the benefit blockchain can offer to auditors and compliance officers and subsequent positive impact on the organisation. [300 words, 6 marks]
E. Assess possible ethical and privacy implications of the applications at the financial institution at which you are imagining that you work. The impact could be on staff and/or customers.