Keynote interview: The Real-Life Applications of Blockchain at GAIMOps Cayman.

Last month I spoke at GAIMOps Cayman on The Real-Life Applications of Blockchain alongside Melanie Pickett, Head of Front Office Solutions at Northern Trust. My team and I were also there to explore opportunities to expand our operations in the Cayman Islands.

For those who might not be familiar, Omise Holdings (referred to as ‘Omise’ hereafter) provides strategic advisory services to its subsidiaries (Omise Payment Gateway, OmiseGO and GO.Exchange) and raises funds on their behalf. Our aim is to transform payments by combining traditional and non-traditional financial services and platforms in an open infrastructure.

What we’re focused on is creating an open finance ecosystem that caters to the needs of institutions, as well as the underbanked and unbanked populations. GAIMOps Cayman was a great opportunity for my team and I to meet with and learn from key players in the finance industry and to share what Omise’s subsidiaries are working on and offer, and why they’re important.

At the keynote interview, attendees learned about new financial technology advancements, including our recently launched exchange platform GO.Exchange, and how blockchain technology can support and create efficiencies for economies — from emerging markets to large institutional investors.

We live in a mobile and connected world, yet there remains a significant population of ‘underbanked’ individuals, who do not have access to basic financial services such as savings, lending or payment methods. These individuals can be serviced by platforms like the OMG Network because these networks can be used without requiring a third-party. Instead of trusting influential or biased relationships, people can now trust a mathematically, non-biased protocol.

OmiseGO, one of Omise’s subsidiaries, is also helping financial services providers (“FSPs”) solve issues caused by centralization via its development of the OMG Network. The OMG network is a decentralized public network that can bridge legacy financial systems with blockchain technology to help alleviate performance problems, remove friction and ease capital flow bottlenecks. OmiseGO is building a global platform for open financial services, which will enable transparent, peer-to-peer transactions in real-time and facilitate self-sovereign financial services across geographies, asset classes and applications. The team also works with enterprises to form their payment and eWallet strategy, co-create new products and provide consulting services and implementation support.

As the sixth largest financial center in the world, Cayman is an attractive jurisdiction for leading fintech companies. Whilst there, we learned a lot about the local ecosystem, and were impressed by the island’s caliber of service providers and robust regulatory and compliance framework.

Going forward, we are exploring ways to work with the jurisdiction to set-up a fully-compliant infrastructure that meets Cayman’s globally-recognized compliance standards to support our business objectives. Stay tuned for more and follow us on Twitter (@OmiseHoldings) for the latest news and updates!