Bitcoin and Trading Execs Team up to Disrupt Settlement

A bitcoin entrepreneur and a trading veteran have partnered on a blockchain project that aims to streamline the way assets are exchanged.

SETL will use its blockchain, which is "akin to proof-of-stake", to let market participants cut out the web of intermediaries in the post-trade system, saving them time and money.

The current clearing and settlement process requires firms to operate across many different ledgers at a total cost of $65–80bn annually.

CEO Anthony Culligan is an ex-JP Morgan executive and the founder of peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange Roolo, which launched this February. Peter Randall, the founder of European equity exchange Chi-X, will act as the platform's COO.

The list of Wall Street companies exploring how blockchain technologies can disrupt legacy infrastructure is growing longer by the day. However, reservations remain about bitcoin's processing time and pseudonymous nature in a heavily regulated, risk-averse industry.

Unlike bitcoin's blockchain, SETL operates using a 'permissioned' ledger that requires all participants to reveal their full identity to pass due diligence.

The platform is expected to reach speeds of 100,000 transactions per second, though the company said only 5,000 have been achieved in tests so far.