Key Takeaways
- The UK will start field testing crypto blockchain technology for traditional market activities like stock and bond trading and settlement next year.
- This experiment is a component of the UK’s endeavors becoming a global “crypto hub,” as per the UK Ministry of Finance.
- The Ministry of Financial Services has made it a main priority to use distributed ledger technology (DLT), which forms the basis crypto assets, to start making financial market infrastructure more innovative and convenient for users.
The United Kingdom is expected to begin live testing blockchain technology for conventional marketing operations such as stock and bond trading and settlement as part of an attempt to become a global “crypto hub.”
Utilizing distributed ledger technology (DLT), which facilitates crypto assets, is a major objective for making finance market infrastructure more inventive and effective for users, as per Gwyneth Nurse, the ministry’s director-general for financial services.
Nurse says the UK plans to develop a “sandbox” for testing DLT projects within its financial sector infrastructure next year. “The government might also want to see if trading and settlement can be combined.” A sandbox will enable market participants to try out new regulatory best practices and make structural changes, Nurse said at the annual IDX derivatives conference in London.
This is a framework that the UK government spearheaded in terms of developing fintech companies. A sandbox, for example, is a testing environment for projects that involve real clients.
Nurse stated that the finance ministry and the Bank of England will collectively analyze a digital pound later this year, following a second consultation process. A digital pound would not be accessible until the second half of the next decade, according to Nurse, if a central bank digital currency is authorized.
DLT allows for the issuance of financial instruments such as bonds or stocks in a matter of hours:
Trading stocks, bonds, and other assets in financial markets often necessitates three separate processes: trading, clearing, and settlement.
These activities are carried out independently of one another. This could be changed by the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT), which allows for the issuance of financial tools such as bonds or stocks in hours rather than days or weeks.
Traders, brokers, regulators, and stock exchanges are all required to go through a lengthy process (which can take up to 3 days to perform transactions, owing to the role of middlemen, operational trade clearance, and regulatory procedures).
Interoperability, trust, and transparency matters in segmented market systems may be
addressed by blockchain.
Through automation and decentralization, blockchain can make stock exchanges much more efficient. It has the ability to help consumers save a lot of money on commissions while also accelerating up the transaction settlement process.
Nurse shared the following information at the annual IDX derivatives summit in London:
“The government might also want to see if trading and settlement can be combined.”
Nurse stated that the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of England are working together on the viability of a digital pound, and that more public consultations will be held later this year.