The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is approaching the replacement of its CHESS clearing and settlement system with a distributed alternative based on ledger.
Details on the progression of the system to the launch of production were included in an 87-page consultation document published on Friday, which included a timeline of when the change will be made and descriptions of the types of functions it will admit and not accept.
ASX aims at a launch date sometime in the 2020 quarter or the first quarter of 2021. But before that, ASX, through the consultation document, is looking for early feedback on its plans as they exist today.
"Depending on the scope of the inquiries received, ASX expects to provide a final functional scope and an implementation roadmap by the end of July 2018," the company explained at the opening of the report.
ASX has been exploring the use of Distributed Accounting Technology (DLT) since 2015. It announced in December that it would become the first stock exchange in the world to use DLT for post-transaction settlement, using technology developed in partnership with Digital Asset. a blockchain startup led by former JPMorgan executive Chase Blythe Masters. ASX also owns a stake in Digital Asset.
The embrace of ASX by DLT is remarkable, reaching the end of a research period of several years. Speaking at the Synchronize conference in New York City earlier this month, CLS Group CEO David Puth said the ASX measure "will set standards for itself" by providing an example for enterprise blockchain implementations in the whole sector.