Euroclear and Paxos have announced the completion of a pilot for Bankchain, their blockchain settlement service for London bullion, and it is now expected to go live in 2017. They report that over 600 over-the-counter (OTC) test bullion trades were settled on the platform over the course of the two-week test.
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Some major players in the London bullion market were involved in the pilot, including Scotiabank, Société Générale, Citi, MKS PAMP Group and INTL FCStone. They are part of the Euroclear Bankchain Market Advisory Group that now includes 17 participants in total.
"The pilot has been very useful in helping us further refine the Bankchain platform," said Seth Phillips, Bankchain Product Director at Paxos. "The level of engagement from market participants was extensive and they were excited by settlements enabled on a real Blockchain for the first time and to see how quickly their feedback could be incorporated into the platform."
Angus Scott, Director, Product Strategy and Innovation at Euroclear, added: "This is a real first step in bringing a new Settlement capability to the London bullion market that will help lower risk and simplify the post-trade process."
The companies say that over the coming months, Euroclear and Paxos will continue to work closely with the London bullion market and integrate feedback from the pilot into the Euroclear Bankchain service. Another market simulation will run early next year in preparation for a production launch later in 2017.
