Korea's Financial Regulator Wants to Use the Blockchain for Stock Trading

South Korea's financial watchdog is advocating for a blockchain-based stock trading system.

The Financial Supervisory Service's (FSS) appeal was part of a new study published by the agency on Thursday, which was first reported on by Korea JoongAng Daily. The study reportedly encourages South Korean regulatory agencies and companies to collaborate on the development of the proposed system, and also examines the use of the blockchain by stock operators around the globe.

The usage of blockchain in stock trading is already well established, with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) first trialing distributed ledger tech for its settlement and clearing system, called CHESS, in 2016. ASX said in April that it expects to roll out the new system in 2020.

Likewise, U.S. stock market Nasdaq unveiled a blockchain-based private securities platform in 2017, and the London Stock Exchange experimented with using the blockchain to replace paper trading certificates later that year. The Japan Exchange Group (JPX) also founded a consortium to explore blockchain applications to capital markets infrastructure in 2017.

The study reportedly noted that the exploration of blockchain use cases in Korea has only recently started, and that cooperation between private and public companies would be integral to the success of any future system.

"There should be no barrier between public institutions and private companies in developing a blockchain system," the FSS was quoted as saying.

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