ASX Delays Launch of DLT System Over Coronavirus Trading Volatility
Australia’s largest stock exchange operator, ASX Ltd., has once more opted to delay the rollout of its in-development blockchain-based trading platform.
As reported by Reuters on Wednesday, the operator of the Australian Securities Exchange said it was eyeing a new date of April 2023 due to higher levels of demand than expected.
“The industry … requested substantially more post-trade processing capacity than what had been contemplated pre-COVID-19,” the operator said in Reuters’ report.
ASX said there had been “extreme increases” in trading volumes on stock exchange during the “most volatile period of the pandemic in March.”
The distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based system is intended to replace the aging Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS), and is intended to provide a range of benefits including making settlements on the exchange much faster.
ASX Ltd has pushed back the release of its new systems on multiple occasions including in September 2018 and this year where it again cited the COVID-19 crisis.
At the start of October, Australia’s central bank and securities regulator had called on ASX to launch the DLT system as soon as safely possible.
See also: Australia’s Central Bank Tells ASX to Push On With Delayed DLT Trading Platform