The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has delayed the launch date of its blockchain clearing system until April 2023.

ASX had warned of a delay to the project which in March was scheduled for 2021. A revised target of April 2022 has now been moved to 2023 after consulting market participants, ASX said.

The new system will replace the 25-year-old Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) on Australia’s main bourse and give the option of accessing distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain.

The replacement of CHESS is part of a broader initiative at ASX under chief executive Dominic Stevens to digitise all the paper-based processes involved in shares and futures trading.

ASX is in the middle a multi-year programme to change its technology. The changes include upgraded data centre infrastructure, increased investment in cyber security plus greater use of data analytics and data visualisation tools.

ASX has already invested in its market surveillance technology, upgraded its market announcement platform and, in the next few weeks, will upgrade its equity trading system.

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