The financial industry has been interested in blockchain technology for years, but only recently has such interest materialized into actual solutions and investments. At the “Real World Blockchain Solutions session of ILTACON 2018,” financial and legal professionals discussed just the novel technology is finally taking shape.

American Express’s Strategic Investment

While American Express hasn’t launched any blockchain applications of its own, with a recent investment, the financial company is positioning itself to leverage the technology in the near future. In 2015, the company invested an undisclosed amount in Abra, a peer-to-peer digital currency investment app that allows individuals to transfer Bitcoin funds to one another.