Malta Stock Exchange Lays Groundwork for Blockchain Testing

Malta’s stock exchange is in the early stages of experimenting with blockchain-based trading.

The exchange quietly announced late last month that it was forming an internal ‘Blockchain Committee’ to guide the development of a strategic roadmap for testing the tech. The committee will be composed of the exchange’s senior leadership and stakeholders, as well as as-yet-unnamed “outside experts”.

The Malta Stock Exchange, which was founded in the early 1990s and reports a market capitalization of about €11bn, said it is also looking to create a broader working group in a bid to drive interest among the business sector in the island nation.

The exchange said in a statement:

“The Exchange will also soon unveil the Malta Stock Exchange Blockchain Consortium a think tank which will bring together experts from the Exchange’s stakeholders as well as from other organizations throughout Malta to share knowledge and perhaps joint venture on the design and implementation of blockchain applications.”

In taking these first steps, the Malta Stock Exchange joins the growing ranks of institutions like it worldwide looking at potentially integrating the tech into their systems or, in some cases, replacing it outright.

The most notable example is perhaps the Australian Securities Exchange, which in August unveiled a blockchain settlement prototype developed in partnership with Digital Asset Holdings, the startup led by former JPMorgan exec Blythe Masters. ASX has also moved to buy a stake in the startup, investing more than $17m to date.

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