Discussing the impact of blockchain on financial services security.

1.     Tell us a bit about yourself.

First and foremost, I am privileged to be not just a husband, but a father to four wonderful children who are all now teenagers, so I have had great joy and responsibility, along with my wife, Iarla, in seeing them grow up all too quickly! We have lived in Shankill since our eldest daughter was born and really love it there. It really is a hidden coastal gem as the very last village in Dublin before reaching the next county.  

‍

‍2.     What was the motivation behind setting up Binarii Labs?

A chance encounter through an online introduction made during Covid-enforced lockdowns with Nigel (Co-Founder & Director) and Steven (Co-Founder& CTO) simply led to myself and Ciarán (Co-Founder & CBDO) getting a wonderful insight into the incredible genius that had gone into developing not just proprietary (now US and UK patented) solutions, but ones that are so necessary and practical in so many walks of life and business especially.

Ciarán and I agreed straight away that the innovations that Steven had developed could create very broad (likely horizontal) solutions for modular B2B SaaS solutions that are being built on a bedrock of cyber security, consideration and care for sensitive data of all sorts. Added to this is a way to comply with an ever-growing need for executives across a broad spectrum of industries to drive general Digital Operational Resilience improvements to protect their stakeholders, their data subjects, and especially themselves and their businesses! 

In simple terms, Steven’s focus of looking at how to preserve data security and sovereign ownership revolves around doing so with each individual piece of data and even though relying on cloud storage accounts, never having to trust any one of those to ever hold a complete file. In terms of motivation, we were hugely energised by the prospect of bringing this unique and patented approach to becoming a commercial reality and success story!

‍

3.     What are the main issues in data security in 2023 and moving into 2024?

To my mind, there is such an exponentially growing threat of ever more resourced, oftentimes disenfranchised but hugely motivated groups becoming more organised and professional.

It is clear that what used to be framed as allegations around state sponsorship can now be stated as a matter of fact and all of this has led to such a sheer volume of differing threat actors, vectors, strategies and tactics deployed that more and more resource and ingenuity is needed on an ongoing basis of constant learning and improvement to address these attacks.

However, there are huge commonalities in the conventional ways that the cyber security industry and IT providers generally approach protecting the data. That approach of focusing so much on keeping the attackers out is a very important one, but we feel there is ever greater value in dealing with how the pieces of data can be managed differently to ensure they can still be protected, accessible and useable, even during and after a data storage location has been subject to a successful breach.

We equally believe that it is our role to make cybersecurity simpler and less technically complex. Ultimately, the failing of any tool or system shall be the users asked to use them. I feel that there is still a preference for convenience over security in terms of storing data, and especially password or other access credentials and that is a key reason why we are aiming to provide ways to make that both simpler and safer for users of our products.        

4.     How do you think the B2B SaaS market is evolving in Ireland and how can it continue to thrive?

In many ways, I think it is expanding at an ever-growing aggressive rate. However, I think to be truthful with ourselves as an industry and eco-system here in Ireland, we need to look at what constitutes “success” and evolution.

Binarii Labs has been very happy to have recently raised money and even over-subscribed, which in today’s market conditions is fantastic and is a huge statement and vote of confidence for us. However, as we go through the brutal steps involved in such a fundraise it seems to me that as we and others are naturally being reported on as having been “successful” in that context, the business metrics become ignored like so many globally ambitious start-ups and scale-ups. We fail to really see how successful they are in changing the minds and hearts of their target paying customer and that is fundamentally the measure as to how any business or segment is evolving.

So, I think there is more than enough tangible evidence that Ireland has become a fast-evolving modern society that seems to really embrace technological change as consumers and users.  

I think we see that mindset of embracing innovation and chasing process improvements also grow in the B2B space, probably as a result of the decision makers evolving personal views, philosophies and how much really great and new and innovative technology can help them in business.

So much of that product is delivered as B2B SaaS globally and, yes, it certainly seems that Ireland per capita or per enterprise has become a heavy consumer of same, albeit I find it very hard to get definitive data on usage stats to verify that.  

5.     Do you think the volatility of the crypto market has affected people’s perception, rightly or wrongly, of blockchain?

Good question, and a real “hobbyhorse” of mine! In short, Blockchain does not equal crypto. I think that message is both lost and yet more clearly understood at the same time. In the areas where it is being clearly understood, it is being less hyped and less talked about, frankly.

But, in my opinion, when you really dig in and see some of the major enterprises and states increasing their level of activity in both building solutions and testing how blockchain can be used for its strengths of immutability, independence in recording, and reliability in so many ways, then it is very evident that the merits of blockchain being recognised in how it is being utilised is evident.

I am not so sure that the volatility of crypto is a major deterrent for people in relation to blockchain as much as really terrible user experiences, so many awkward and difficult workarounds required to enable the “benefits” and so-called efficiencies to be gained, such that all such efficiencies are lost. Often times, solutions built with a clear lack of understanding as to what enterprise truly needs, are all major factors that to my mind more likely impact on people’s views on blockchain.

The fact that crypto (or Bitcoin) in Dr W. Scott Stornetta’s (accredited with creating blockchain) words put the ball in the back of the net for blockchain technology has certainly meant that for so many people, blockchain and crypto are expressions used interchangeably and the indifference to trying to understand why that is wrong is as much an indication of a lack of impact that blockchain has yet to have on the 98% of the world.

To me, that just shines a light on a wonderful opportunity for the implementation of brilliant but relevant ways to integrate distributed ledger technology (DLT) into new and innovative ways to build tech stacks that work so well that, as we say at Binarii Labs, “make Blockchain boring… but dependable, reliable, and trustworthy”.

6.     What are, in your view, the key benefits of integrating a DLT platform into a business’s infrastructure?

I think in general that many blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) solutions are built as “platforms” such that there can be difficulties and obstacles to businesses trying to use the technology.

At Binarii Labs, we focus on using DLT for what we believe it is best used for (or arguably perhaps, designed for), which is being integrated into a tech stack within a solution for business that enables an independently generated public record to be created that does not just act as proof of an action, or transaction having occurred, but is an un-editable record that can’t be deleted.

How we have implemented the use of DLT within our solutions is such that the business using the service is not encumbered by the difficult, time-consuming and often costly steps of using DLT. However, the benefits they get are the ability to provide proof with a proven date and time stamp and the digital signature of an authorised person involved for any action or transaction that is required to be independently proven.

In our case, that proof is automatic and digital and permanent and as such can be relied upon without needing a trusted party, entity or agent to be paid to additionally certify or verify that fact, whilst also eliminating any concern around a human process that may be capable of manipulating or backdating any such record as does occur.

We believe that the automated, digital record that is created as soon as that action or transaction occurs can be very powerful in so many ways through the immutable audit trail it creates that can all contribute towards the better protection of the enterprise and its stakeholders, especially in regard to the data subjects.      

7.     Do you think we are far off a wholesale adoption of DLT solutions in Financial Services? What do Financial Services firms need to consider when implementing DLT in their business?

Yes, I do think Financial Services is a long way off the wholesale adoption of DLT infrastructure. Even amongst cryptocurrency service providers, especially the large, centralised exchanges that provide away for their users to buy and sell cryptocurrency, the adoption of DLT infrastructure in their exchange services is ironically very low.

A large part of why that is is down to a need to manage financial services using “traditional” methods and technology due to the inertia those existing ways have. If the implementation of new ways requires a massive upheaval for industry stakeholders with whom you need to engage, report, communicate and in many ways understand and agree with not just what you do, but how you do it, then it is understandable that different means such as using DLT infrastructure as being the new plumbing is not just a shock to the system, but involves a massive sea change in the entire fabric of financial services infrastructure for it to really be adopted.

This is why, at Binarii Labs, we say it is our mission to make blockchain boring, dependable, reliable and trustworthy for business. There are massive benefits to be gained from records that can be trusted, along with date and time stamps that in and of themselves can’t be manipulated (backdated or edited) and can be delivered within a tech stack to radically transform the ability to provide transparency, clear records and accuracy in an action and/or transaction log that can be relied upon.      

8.     It has been 5 years since GDPR was implemented in the EU. Data Privacy is a key component of the valid8Me platform and is very important to our client base. What challenges do you hear from Binarii’s clients in relation to GDPR and data privacy?

Binarii DMS has been developed entirely around secure document storage and sharing, whilst also providing a clear and transparent independent date and time stamp log per document stored and/or shared.  

Our initial focus is on the funds and legal sectors. A huge concern in both sectors is around being able to securely store and share sensitive documents, so many of which contain personal data as covered under GDPR. 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) would be the biggest point of concern in our view in these two sectors. From a regulatory perspective, firms are required to receive, hold, and update these documents that contain so much sensitive and valuable information about a person, around their identity, and proving that their claims as to who they are and where they live are genuine.

Firms in these sectors get feedback from their clients that they want that process to be frictionless, yet the steps to in particular share this type of document securely can be unwieldy, costly, overly technical and difficult, or oftentimes be required or requested to be done through tools that are simply not fit for the purpose and as such, risky shortcuts, notably personal email accounts are used instead.  

Our clients have a strong desire to be able to provide their clients with fully secure means of storing all sensitive documents in their own mixed cloud storage locations (that they 100% own and control), such that they are not relying on us or any other third party to be trusted to hold such data, butat the same time, they don’t wish to and in many ways with new Digital Operational Resilience regulations, can’t either rely on any one main cloud provider to be that single storage provider as that is also a risk, and backup systems are costly and difficult to operate diligently.

Binarii DMS provides all of that and more by enabling the entity to let their client share that sensitive information and documentation with them without risking the use of email and with an immutable log of the fact that apiece of PII was stored and securely shared on the set date and time that permission was given for that to occur.        

9.     At valid8Me, we see the advent of a digital ID as a very exciting prospect and one that will likely be transformational to Financial Services. What is your view of Digital IDs? Is this the future of data privacy?

At Binarii Labs, we certainly see the huge benefits that can be gained from Digital Identity. The ability for a natural person to easily share an identity number that shows they have been proven to be who they say they are and live where they say they live etc., could remove so many excessive requirements to share highly sensitive personally identifiable information with so many parties.

As a technology leader in this space, we are excited by the many possibilities that come with the capabilities of multiple technologies to assist in that process. However, the concerns are real around how much personal information may or could as a result be required to be shared centrally that in and of itself will then have to potentially be incredibly carefully monitored and secured in order to enable that digital ID to exist.

Likewise, we understand people’s concerns about a Big Brother scenario emerging. We would hope there will be a “halfway house” point that can be reached that can mean less risk in sensitive document sharing and greater efficiency in smarter converging of data points to enable a Digital ID, but with minimum invasion of personal privacy rights in the process.  

 10.  You recently began a crowdfunding campaign. How is that going and why did you go down that route?

We have completed a very successful campaign with Spark Crowdfunding. That campaign was over-subscribed and, along with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, investment secured through the EIT Digital Open Innovation Factory, 2023, where we were one of 8 selected across Europe, alongside individual private investors, we have exceeded our overall fundraising target for this period.

We went with crowdfunding simply because it presented an opportunity to deliver a certain outcome in a very short space of time and we believe that the certainty of having a round closed within a reasonably “known” space of time was preferable to the indefinite situation of not knowing when, or frankly, if an early-stage venture capital driven round would close.

We had significant support from private investors who were willing to invest and wanted to support our funding plans that aligned with achieving business growth and scaling in set time frames.

With that meaningful support and especially with EIT Digital support won, we felt we were able to articulate a direction and tempo of travel that aligned with an EIIS crowdfunding campaign and the Spark crowdfunding investor base, who thankfully were very willing to invest to support us.

We are also moving on now as an Enterprise Ireland HPSU client to apply to them for HPSU match funding and this is something that we are now empowered and enabled to do thanks to the strong Spark crowdfunding campaign having now concluded.