On Nov 17th, Ethereum's William Mougayar said 20-plus banks are testing on Ethereum (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ethereums-william-mougayar-20-plus-banks-testing-blockchains-outside-consortium-model-1529080)
Just now (Nov 19th), Mike Hearn of R3 (25 bank blockchain consortium) said on /r/bitcoin that R3 is looking at using Ethereum and NOT Bitcoin! Specifically, he said:
- "It'd be a conflict of interest if there was any chance of banks adopting Bitcoin for the use cases they're looking at, things like moving fiat currencies around, managing post trade lifecycles, etc. But there is no such chance. The use cases they are looking at and requirements they have cannot be met with the Bitcoin protocol, it just doesn't have the things they need. They are actually spending a lot more time looking at Ethereum than Bitcoin, as it's more obvious how to apply it to their use cases. But even if Bitcoin had all the features banks needed for what they want to do, their volumes are such that they wouldn't fit on a crippled 1mb-only block chain. Bitcoin can barely handle its existing user base without running out of capacity. Dropping existing inter-bank transactions onto it would simply not work."
When someone asked Mike Hearn to elaborate specifically on his statement that "They are actually spending a lot more time looking at Ethereum than Bitcoin," his response was:
- "This stuff isn't really a secret: https://twitter.com/annairrera/status/639065607338598400/photo/1
As an example, try sketching out how to model a bond lifecycle with Bitcoin. I tried it in 2012 for the videod talk I gave in London. It requires absurd acrobatics for even a very simplified sort of bond and when you get into the real thing, forget it. They are interested in Ethereum due to its more powerful scripting language (and, I suspect, its better reputation, as Ethereum has not yet been sullied by people using it for trading illegal things)."
(Link to reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3tftas/mike_hearn_now_working_for_r3cv_blockchain/)
Conclusions:
1. R3 / big banks are overlooking Bitcoin and instead opting for Ethereum.
2. Ethereum + R3 partnership all but confirmed[?]
3. Buy more ETH
