Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) today said it is working with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) to “ensure the production readiness” of its yet-to-be-launched distributed ledger technology-based securities lending platform. Once launched later this year, BTP will provide ongoing support for TASE’s Blockchain Securities Lending (BSL) platform, which aims to fill a gap in the Israeli securities market, where there is currently no central lending platform.
For its role in the project, BTP is helping the exchange operator through providing its flagship blockchain management platform, dubbed ‘Sextant,’ which handles the deployment and ongoing management of blockchain networks.
Since the platform will be built on Hyperledger Sawtooth that utilizes crypto technology to encrypt transaction data, Sextant features a one-click deployment of relevant networks running on industry-standard Kubernetes clusters which is one of its major business attributes.
Working with other partners, including Accenture, Intel, and local fintech center The Floor, the TASE intends to profit from its advantages such as direct peer-to-peer transactions, smart contracts, and enhanced security.
The project, first announced in September 2016, is currently deployed in a beta production environment after a successful implementation of the initial proof of concept.
Also featured is that BTP and TASE worked on acceptance testing over the past few months with their collaboration having led to changes to the contributed upstream.
“With the acceptance testing now firmly in their rear-view mirror, BTP and TASE are moving forward with a comprehensive production readiness program that covers governance, operations, security, support and user acceptance testing in preparation for the launch of the BSL platform later this year,” they said in a joint statement.
One-stop-shop for all lending operations
The exchange will reportedly create one central platform that enables direct lending among all the major financial instruments, designed as a “one-stop-shop” for all operations with securities lending and provide access to larger securities volumes in shorter terms.
Accenture will be working on the development of smart contracts on the platform that uses a blockchain to track and categorize transactions, including holdings, receipts, and settlements.
“When we set out on this journey with Accenture, Intel and The Floor our goal was to harness the power of cutting-edge blockchain technology to transform the Securities Lending market in Israel by creating a distributed service available to all our market participants in order to increase the volume of the market and make it available for more players in the market,” said Uri Shavit, the CFO at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
“Having identified Hyperledger Sawtooth as one of the best emerging open source blockchain technologies for the enterprise, we were delighted to be introduced to TASE by Intel as our mission is to make it easier for companies like TASE to realise their vision by providing them with Sextant, our management platform that comprises both our production grade Sawtooth distribution and the tools to deploy and manage this distribution on Kubernetes in production,” added Duncan Johnston-Watt, CEO of Blockchain Technology Partners.
