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Blockchain Technology

and financial field is no exception. Vietnam is a developing nation with a preference

for cash. In 2019, the proportion of Vietnamese individuals with a bank account was

about 40%, according to Forbes Vietnam (2020), but 80% of regular purchases still

use cash, 98% use cash when paying for products of less than 100,000 dong and 85%

account for cash withdrawal transactions at ATMs. The target of the ratio of cash

to total means of payment as of 31 December 2019 was 11.33%. A large part of the

population preferred online shopping with door-to-door delivery systems and bank

transfers to restrict interaction when the Covid-19 epidemic occurred. A study by the

State Bank of Vietnam (2020) showed that in the first six months of 2020, there were

200 million Internet payment transactions worth around VND 12.9 million, a rise of

36% in value over the same period in 2019. The number of cell phone transactions

was 472 million (1.78 times the number in 2019) with a volume of about 4.9 million

dong (equivalent to 1.77 times the 2019 volume). This is considered a significant

change for Vietnamese citizens and opens up banks’ opportunities to expand the

market.

12.6  CONCLUSIONS

The banking industry has consistently delivered innovative technology experi­

ences, such as telebanking, online banking, mobile banking and fintech, to cus­

tomers in recent years. Business transactions in various areas have been enabled

by the application of technology in banking and finance. It is anticipated that

blockchain technology will be a breakthrough that will trigger a shift in the shape

and scale of the banking and finance sector while at the same time introducing

developments in the way business transactions are carried out. With emerging

innovations such as blockchain, automation, cloud computing, augmented reality

under development, and a significant impact on the banking industry, not just on

countries, the Technological Revolution 4.0 is bursting into life in both developed

and emerging nations. Experimental data and studies indicate that implementing

a blockchain technology framework offers many potential benefits to the finan­

cial system and economic growth in developing countries. The advantages of a

blockchain, such as transparency, the accuracy of transactions, immutability and

high processing speed at low cost, have contributed significantly to the develop­

ment in the banking system. In addition, blockchain offers the advantage of help­

ing clients trust goods and services and deters transaction fraud. Blockchain’s

opportunity for banks helps them gain a competitive advantage in the economy’s

virtualization battle.

In the future, blockchain could also enable banks to build new services. However,

there are still some risks to blockchain technology, such as scalability, security

risks, interoperability and other issues that need to be addressed. Another possibil­

ity, blockchain technology has some challenges, such as operational costs, transac­

tion costs, energy, and storage costs, increasing dramatically. Therefore, before the

mass adoption of blockchain technology, banks in developing countries need to care­

fully analyse these problems to optimize the advantages and minimize the risks that

blockchain technology brings.