The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Limited has announced that it is building a blockchain as a replacement for its current platform for clearing and settlement of trades.In an announcement today by Australia’s biggest stock exchange, the ASX has confirmed that it is developing a private blockchain with US-based firm Digital Asset as a post-trade solution for the Australian equity market.
The announcement also revealed that the ASX paid AUD $14.9 million for a 5% equity interest in Digital Asset Holdings (DAH), a fee that will also fund an initial phase of development of the private distributed ledger solution. Furthermore, the deal also includes the ASX for a warrant that will allow the Australian exchange to purchase further equity from DAH and appoint a director to the board of the blockchain startup.
Elmer Funke Kupper, managing director and CEO of ASX spoke about the need for new innovation in post-trade systems. If embraced, Australia would lead the way in adopting blockchain technology for large stock exchanges. He stated:
There has been very little innovation in the post-trade services that operate around the world for the better part of 20 years.
Rather than replace CHESS with a new version that is based on the same legacy processes that operate in the market today, we should aim to re-engineer and simplify those processes to deliver significant benefits to the users of the market.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/australian-stock-exchange-confirms-upcoming-blockchain-for-settlements/
