Australia bourse to use blockchain in ‘world-first’

Sydney: Australia’s main stock exchange has said it will use blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency bitcoin, to process its equities transactions in a shift touted as a world-first for a major financial institution. The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the eighth-largest share market in the world, will replace its current system CHESS with the distributed ledger technology to manage the clearing and settlement for buying and selling stocks. ASX chief executive Dominic Stevens said the move “will put Australia at the forefront of innovation in financial markets”, in a statement late on Thursday. “While we have a lot more work still to do, today’s announcement is a major milestone on that journey.” Blockchain technology debuted in 2009 as a public, encrypted ledger for the digital currency bitcoin. — AFP