ASX Postpones Roll-Out of Blockchain Settlement System to Q2 2021

The Australian Securities Exchange has pushed back the expected launch time of a blockchain network to Q2 in 2021 that is set to replace the country's decades-old CHESS clearing and settlement system.

The ASX published a new report on Tuesday in response to public feedback it had gathered that commented on a consultation paper it published in April for the replacement.

The company expected at the time the new system would go live by the end of 2020.

The ASX said it received 41 written submissions from various stakeholders in the process, such as clearing and settlement participants, payment providers and market operators.

Based on the responses, the ASX decided to postpone the targeted go-live time to March or April in 2021.

Seven features of the blockchain system that the ASX initially planned to include at the launch will be released at a later stage, such as settlement in foreign currencies and a reporting feature for showing account balance information.

Further, the ASX cautioned that whether all new features can be made available to users at the launch will also depend on potential risk issues and regulatory clearances.

The ASX has been exploring how to adopt distributed ledger technology since 2015 and announced last year it will launch a blockchain-based settlement system in an effort to cut operational costs and to boost transaction efficiency.

The revised implementation timeline also follows recent remarks made by the exchange's managing director and CEO Dominic Stevens that the new system is able to save as much as $23 billion once implemented.

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