Wall Street's Private Blockchain Push Risks Efficiency Gains, Raman Warns

Wall Street's ongoing pursuit of private, permission-only blockchain networks risks becoming a "race to the bottom," according to Ethereum advocate Raman. While centrally controlled networks maintain a specific role within traditional finance, industry proponents argue that financial institutions must integrate transparent and open base layers to fully capture the structural advantages offered by distributed ledger technology.

Financial institutions have increasingly explored private blockchains to streamline settlement, reduce operational overhead, and maintain strict control over user access and data privacy. However, critics contend that fragmented, siloed permissioned networks undermine the core value proposition of public blockchains, which rely on global composability and decentralized consensus. Without an open foundation, private networks risk replicating the existing inefficiencies of legacy financial infrastructure.