An illustration of an hourglass with coins in it, representing the traditional financial system and its history

The History of the Financial System

Introduction

trimplement co-founder Natallia Martchouk looks into the history of centralized finance.

We all are used to living in the world of centralized banks and institutions that govern finance – also known as the old economy in the crypto and fintech scene. In fact, many people cannot imagine that the financial system could work differently. They simply take this existing system as the given and best option. 

But is this the case? Or are there good reasons why there is a need for new paradigms like the growing new area of decentralized finance? Let’s talk about some historical milestones in the development of the financial systems of the old economy, before examining its disadvantages.

The Old Economy: History, Status Quo and Risks

Money Makes the World Go Round

Let’s start at the very beginning and go through some basic concepts. The financial story of humankind starts with the invention of money.

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A wallet, money and a computer cooling system, symbolizing the rapid real-time payments of SCT Inst

From SCT Inst to EPI – How European Banking Is Changing

Matthias Gall, co-founder of trimplement
trimplement co-founder Matthias Gall traces the origin of the SCT Inst scheme and gives an outlook.

Having followed the European financial press in recent years, chances are you stumbled across the term SCT Inst. This seven letter abbreviation hints at an ambitious banking project that has sharpened the competitive edge of the European financial market: Instant, multi-national payments. 

The SCT Inst scheme was introduced to enable rapid, real-time payments between banks and financial institutions located in different European countries. As such, SCT Inst acts as a stepping stone for more banking projects bound to happen further down the timeline (like the European Payment Initiative or EPI). 

As you are reading this, SCT Inst has already taken hold in banking. But still, banks can feel the challenges it has presented to them. 

Let’s see what we are dealing with.

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