The National Stock Exchange of Australia has announced that it has partnered with fintech firm iSignthis in order to develop a blockchain-based settlement and clearing system called ClearPay.
The system will help to offer digital asset trading as well as settlements in real-time. It could also be used to make fractional trading—the option to say, buy a fraction of an Apple stock—possible. ClearPay is expected to be launched in early 2021 after which the National Stock Exchange expects brokers to participate due to the implementation of an industry-standard blockchain.
The government of Australia has also put together a roadmap document, published earlier this month, that suggests how the country can take advantage from blockchain technologies in the next five years. The document outlines a number of areas where blockchain technologies could benefit the country. The product counterfeiting and substitution have cost the Australian food and wine industry more than £864.1m in the year 2017. The roadmap will advocate use case around data redundancy, information transparency, data immutability, and a consensus mechanism.
As of now, the landscape in Australia is finance-heavy. Insurance and financial services comprise approximately two fifths of the entire blockchain activity. Food and Accommodation services, along with forestry and fishing, barely scrape together 5% between them, although the figure does slightly improve for retail and healthcare initiatives. Karen Andrews, minister for industry, science and technology noted: “Together, we can drive the long-term development and adoption of blockchain technology, and capitalise on the tremendous economic and social opportunities it offers.”
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