Australian Securities Exchange Building New Blockchain Platform With VMWare, Digital Asset

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is teaming up with fintech firm Digital Asset and VMWare to move its current exchange platform onto distributed ledger technology.

Announced today, ASX and Digital Asset have signed a three-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a replacement platform for the existing Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) onto DLT. MOUs are usually non-binding documents that point to a company’s intention

Begun in 2015, ASX plans on the new DLT-platform to be up and running by Spring 2021. As of now, 30 to 40 percent of the new platform is available to replace CHESS.

Speaking with ZDNet, ASX deputy CEO Peter Hiom said ASX said the MOU will help it expand both product offerings and service locations across Australia and New Zealand:

“This new partnership is a very positive development that will help us support a wider range of DLT solutions developed by the industry. It confirms our belief in the potential of DLT as we remain on track to deliver the CHESS replacement system in March-April 2021.”

ASX is also using Digital Asset’s open-source, blockchain-focused language DAML for the project.

ASX’s current platform handles some AU $2 trillion in registered equities along with AU $5 billion processed per day.