The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) had scheduled to launch its blockchain clearing and settlement system CHESS in April 2021. Because of COVID-19, the ASX said in March that it would consult this month about delaying the CHESS rollout. But several market participants, particularly share registrars, have resisted the platform over concerns that it encroaches on their turf. Yesterday the Financial Times (FT) reported that share registrar Computershare was lobbying for a two year delay in the ASX distributed ledger technology (DLT) launch.
The FT stated that: “Several ASX clients expressed concerns to the FT that the exchange could use the tech overhaul to extend its dominance in clearing and settlement into other markets, including share registry services.”
More than a year ago, we reported that the CHESS system was the subject of perhaps the first competition complaint relating to blockchain. We believe this is the first of many because the nature of blockchain platforms is they often remove the need for intermediaries. The latest rumblings sound similar to earlier ones. The concern is that the CHESS DLT platform’s functionality may overlap with some of the current share registrars’ services. That’s because transaction data will be available on the DLT. And concerns about increased costs have been raised again.
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