When Money Moves 24/7, When Do Humans Sleep? Insights from JERA and BIS on 'Sleepless Finance'
On a holiday morning, I wish I could forget about work and sleep in.
However, the global markets do not stop to accommodate human holidays or personal time.
While Tokyo sleeps, financial and energy trading continues in London and Houston. When do the finance professionals at companies dealing with such markets find time to rest?
This thought was sparked by the news from JERA Global Markets announced at the end of June.
JERA is Japan's largest power generation company, jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power, each holding a 50% stake. JERA Global Markets, part of this group, trades LNG, electricity, coal, and more across the globe, with headquarters in Singapore and offices in Tokyo, London, Houston, and Brisbane.
JERA Global Markets has become the first company to utilize J.P. Morgan's "Blockchain Deposit Account (BDA)" in Japanese yen.
In simple terms, the BDA is a bank deposit account for companies that allows them to move funds 24/7 using blockchain technology.
Not only can funds be moved outside of regular banking hours, but the process can also be automated based on predetermined conditions. For JERA Global Markets, which operates across different time zones and markets, this could serve as a new financial infrastructure supporting its business.
That said, this advanced case involving a giant bank like J.P. Morgan and a global energy company may take time to spread to ordinary businesses.
However, this week, another piece of news followed closely behind.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and others have been advancing "Project Agorá," which conducted tests for international payments using real money.
Project Agorá aims to digitize central bank money and commercial bank deposits, facilitating transactions across multiple countries and currencies. In this test, 28 institutions, including financial institutions and central banks, executed transactions worth approximately 800,000 Swiss francs (around 16 million yen).
On the prototype, the average time from payment instruction to settlement was 80 seconds. Quite fast.
However, the BDA used by JERA Global Markets and Project Agorá are not the same system. Additionally, Project Agorá is not yet a completed commercial service; it was an experiment conducted in a controlled environment.
Nonetheless, the directions they are heading in overlap.
Instead of moving money during banking hours, funds are moved when companies or financial institutions need them. Multiple processes crossing countries and currencies are connected into a single flow as much as possible.
Corporate money is gradually transforming into "sleepless money" that moves 24/7.
So, if money starts moving 24/7, will those working in corporate finance departments and banks no longer be able to sleep? Will we return to an era where commercials ask, "Can you work 24/7?"
In the Project Agorá experiment, compliance checks before payments and some manual confirmations of foreign exchange transactions are also conducted. Even if money becomes programmable and fund transfers are automated, human verification and judgment will not disappear.
In fact, at first, the workload may increase. New systems need to be introduced, authorities and limits set, and abnormal transactions monitored. It will also be necessary to determine who will respond when something goes wrong.
However, the goal should not be a world where humans work without sleep 24/7.
Routine fund transfers will proceed according to predetermined rules. People will not process every transaction one by one but will focus on exceptions and significant decisions.
Only then will "sleepless money" become convenient and comfortable for humans.
Corporate money is beginning to shift from being constrained by bank hours to moving when business needs it. As I report on news related to on-chain finance, such a world starts to seem a bit more tangible.
Now, on a Sunday morning, I am finishing this manuscript. Once I’m done, I plan to step away from my PC for the day.
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