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