Post-Trade Tech Firm Seeks to Build Commodities Blockchain Consortium

Post-trade technology services firm Kynetix is seeking to assemble a consortium of commodities market stakeholders to explore the collaborative use of blockchain technology.

Kynetix

announced today that it has so far assembled a "coalition of 15 commodity exchanges, investment banks, clearing houses and brokers", though it declined to name those involved in the effort.

Despite this silence, however, Kynetix is seeking to liken the project to similar efforts by distributed ledger startup R3, which has united 30 brand-name banks in a similar initiative.

In interview, Guillaume Kendall, head of business development at the UK-based company, sought to characterize its service as uniquely positioned between the "physical economy and the financial markets", thus making it an ideal candidate to lead the conversation.

Kendall told CoinDesk:

"Our software is focused on the post-trade elements of the commodity trade lifecycle – specifically solving industry challenges for settlement, physical delivery, inventory, warranting and title transfer. It is on these last two points that we identified a potential use case for blockchain technology among others."

Kendall said the goal of the consortium will be to investigate the benefits blockchain technology could bring to this process, and to explore the subject with "key actors" who could work on a collaborative solution.

He framed the effort as complementary to R3, positioning the comparison as an acknowledgement of that group's "significant momentum" in bringing together traditional financial stakeholders.

When reached for comment, Kynetix’s public-facing partners including London Metals Exchange, Stonehage and UBS declined to comment as to their involvement in the initiative. InterContinental Exchange (ICE) indicated it was not involved in the project.

Kynetix said the first meeting of the consortium will be held tomorrow, 25th November, in London.

Commodities image via Shutterstock