Distributed ledger technology will be crucial to innovation in digital banking this year, according to a poll conducted by Bank Innovation.

For the December poll, Bank Innovation asked readers to name a technology, aside from the obvious – artificial intelligence, that would be most prominent in 2019. Out of 151 responses, 28% or 42 people said DLT is that technology. That distributed ledger technology received the most votes isn’t surprising, given that some major global banks like HSBC, PNC, and ING, among others, are currently experimenting with the technology.

However, the application of DLT remains restricted to areas like wealth management and trade finance. Cathy Bessant, Bank of America’s chief operations and technology officer, has expressed many times that widespread practical applications for blockchain and DLT still doesn’t exist. Incidentally, BofA has the most blockchain and DLT-related patents in the country, even more than technology mogul IBM. 

That might change in 2019, PayPal-owned Braintree’s managing director Juan Benitez told Bank Innovation to “expect to see a lot more innovation related to tokenization, in areas related to security, authentication and cross border payments.” DLT has an important role to play in tokenization. More on this here.

Other applications in areas of customer privacy, payments and security are also ripe for DLT-based innovation, as is evident with the ongoing efforts of JPMorgan Chase’s blockchain venture Quorum.

Also See: 3 Banking and Fintech Trends to Watch in 2019

The two technologies that shared the second spot on Bank Innovation’s poll are biometrics and financial wellness tools, both garnering 22% of the votes. Already, FIs are using biometrics in certain mobile authentication and call centers. In 2019, however other areas of authentication, security and digital identity could emerge as key areas of focus among banks and fintechs.

The other technologies mentioned in December’s poll were biometrics, personal financial management tools, voice banking, and virtual reality.

Voice banking has been a popular technology in 2018 with banks like Capital One connecting to Amazon’s Alexa or Bank of America launching its own version of a virtual assistant in Erica. It seems logical that this area will see more development, particularly on the security and fraud front. Remember dolphin attacks? A type of sound signal undetectable to the human ear that can be used to hack voice-controlled devices. Such security issues still need to be sorted.

When it comes to virtual reality, not a lot of banks have been using this technology, but that is likely to change in 2019, or at least 14% of the poll respondents think so. Dallas-based Comerica Bank does too. The bank ’s senior technology and innovation executive, Geoff Novak told Bank Innovation that it is currently using VR to train employees while exploring other use cases.

Bank Innovation conducted this poll during the month from December through early January on its website. Our upcoming poll for January has to do with bank-fintech partnerships. To participate in this month’s poll, look to the right side of the page.

To learn more about the latest technologies in banking and fintech, register here to attend Bank Innovation Ignite 2019 in March.