The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has farther delayed its switch to blockchain after public lobbying from key stakeholders.

According to a June 30 update from the ASX, the exchange has officially delayed the rollout of Distributed Ledger infrastructure to supplant its current system for processing equity transactions. ASX will now release the project — the replacement for the Clearing House Electronic Subregister Organization (CHESS) — in Apr 2022, a one-year push button from its most recent timetable.

The exchange cited a number of reasons for the modify including the electric current pandemic, accommodating changes requested by stakeholders, and providing a larger window of opportunity for evolution.

Peter Hiom, ASX Deputy CEO, said the commutation had "listened to the diverse views of stakeholders and accommodated feedback on timing, user readiness and changes to functionality." He stated that the new CHESS system would "underpin Commonwealth of australia'due south financial markets for the adjacent decade and beyond."

Customer feedback drives postponement

Users of the CHESS system lobbied hard to delay the launch of ASX'due south blockchain organisation, with some saying the switch "lacked clarity."

The CHESS timeline had been under review since March, when ASX announced it would  undertake consultations in June most the rollout due to the pandemic.

Computershare, one of the primary share registry companies in Australia, put force per unit area on the ASX during the consultation period, asking for a 2-twelvemonth filibuster. The company stated it had non been given critical data about how the blockchain arrangement would operate or any divergence in fees that may be required for services.

Tony Cunningham, founder of CPS Capital, a Western Australian stockbroker, also suggested a delay might be advisable to improve analyze how distributed ledger technology (DLT) would piece of work at ASX for the share registry and broking.

Development of ASX blockchain project

As one of the first large stock exchanges to commit to using DLT, ASX has been working on the transition to blockchain since December 2022.

The exchange released the first code for its replacement app development tool based on blockchain technology in May 2022. In October 2022, the Australian subsidiary of market operator Chi-X — the sole competitor of ASX at the time — called on regulators at the Australian Contest and Consumer Committee to investigate the possible effects of blockchain technology on trading activities.

Cointelegraph reported that prior to the current pandemic, the CHESS rollout appointment had been prepare at April 2022.