On 23 December 2020, invited by the Division of Business and Management, Professor Alian Chong, Professor in Information Systems, Dean of Graduate School and Global Engagement, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, delivered a lecture titled “Tracing the Evolution of Blockchain-Based Banknote Supply Chain: A Path Dependency Perspective” to DBM staff.

Before the lecture, Professor Wenbin Liu, Dean of DBM, gave a warm welcome and present a souvenir to the guest. 

Prof. Wenbin Liu (right) presents a souvenir to Prof. Alian Chong

Prof. Chong introduced that the banknote supply chain is an indispensable and integral part of modern-day financial system by ensuring an adequate supply of bills in circulation to meet market demands. This is accomplished through the detection of counterfeit bills, the destruction of damaged currency and the issue of new notes to replace those which have been destroyed.

Yet, conventional models of banknote supply chain, which are governed centrally by a dominant player in the form of the central banking authority of a country, suffers from problems of operational efficiency. The emergence of blockchain as a distributed technological infrastructure has the potential of disrupting how banknote supply chains are configured.

In the lecture, Prof. Chong put forward three approaches to optimize banknote supply chain. He also mentioned the benefits as well as the challenges such as resistance from the commercial banks and inconsistent data standards when conducting optimization banknote supply chain. He said this study explicates how blockchain technology could be employed to streamline business processes by offering immutable traceability of transactional information and strengthening compliance with regulatory frameworks. 

During the Q&A session, Prof. Chong interacted with teachers; answered questions raised by the audience, and discussed and exchanged opinions with faculty.

Group photo with guest speakers