I don’t see the quantum leap being the end of banking. The current security architecture of the TLS connections (and hence private conversations) relies on the non-factorability of sufficiently large numbers. There are other algorithms that can be used to generate keys that are not as susceptible (if at all) to quantum computing. They’re just going to have to swap out the entire key generating mechanism. But I can’t see the business model of banks ceasing to exist.
They’re all exploring the blockchains and crypto currencies themselves. Facebook and it’s cryptocurrency? Never.
Blockchain is anti-banking as it provides for deleting the middlemen which the banks are.
Blockchain scares them greatly.
I’ve followed the big banks and their reactions to blockchain from the beginning since 2008. At first, and still now, they are trying to find a ‘security angle’ in which to attack the blockchina concept. They have even pushed during the Obama years to have the SEC come down on and attempt to outlaw blockchain services. They have been busy erecting barriers to entry in the form of provisional patents but they are getting nowhere with it.
When one has followed banks and blockchain for as long as I have, it becomes very clear the banks cannot survive blockchain.
The historical implications and developments have yet to play out. But centralized banking business models are antithetical to decentralized blockchain products.
The role of the federal government is still at issue. I predict the Fed will be made obsolete and the US Treasury will oversee the return of the gold standard with a provisioni to back blockchain cyber with special agreements for law enforcement monitoring with sufficient court authorizations.
As for generating new keys for banking security, your comments are too optimistic. The effort to explore quantum computing models are just beginning. Mathematicians are always searching for the next prime regardless of quantum computing advances. it’s been an ongoing effort for generations of computing.
The Sieve of Eratosthenes guarantees an infinite supply of primes but it becomes increasingly more difficult to find the next one. With each new prime discovery, an extra layer of banking security is added. Ironically, quantum computing may possibly help or endanger banking security depending on who is ahead in the race.
But Blockchain needs none of the race to the next prime. So it has a great advantage and this is why I think it emerges as the winner. As it takes its place in normalcy, the banking business models must necessarily dissolve as there is no restructuring or reinvention route for them.
Americans will lead the world in the evolution of currency. Americans will opt for the model that gives them more control, more speed, more security. Blockchain will provide those features better than banks.