IBM is officially on the Bitcoin bandwagon. In an interview with Finextra that was published today, Richard G. Brown, executive architect for banking and financial markets at IBM, said crypto-currencies, bitcoin being the first of them, will “change the world, but not in the way that we think.” Brown said the currencies have a “really powerful role to play” in global economies.

But Brown wonders what happens after bitcoin is rolled out in a few currencies. “What can be done after that?” he asked. Brown points out that every bitcoin is traceable, unlike cash. “It is a very sophisticated asset register today,” he said.

“There is so much technical innovation here,” he said. “These guys have proved that it can be done.”