EU Securities Watchdog: Distributed Ledgers Still Face Key Challenges
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), a securities trade watchdog based in the EU, has released a new discussion paper on blockchains and distributed ledgers as part of a fact-finding effort aimed at developing policy positions on the technologies. The paper, published today, comes more than a year after the organization first issued a call for information on the technology. ESMA has also hosted its own events, as well as participated in others focused on the use of blockchain applications in finance. ESMA’s fact-finding mission itself grew out of an effort to investigate....
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It’s too early to predict the full regulatory impact of distributed ledger technology (DLT), a representative of Europe's securities watchdog argued this week. Patrick Armstrong, a senior risk analysis officer for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), made the comments during a speech at a securities industry event in Oslo on 23rd January. In his remarks, Armstrong touched upon a number of the factors changing securities trading in Europe, including distributed ledgers. Notably, he indicated it is not yet possible to say which regulations might need to change due to the....
Blockchain technology presents significant opportunities to record financial transactions, identities and various legal operations. However, the technology is new and it therefore must be subjected to various studies, especially in the banking sector, which is highly regulated. A recent report from BBVA Research by Javier Sebastian, the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. digital regulation manager, cites seven such regulatory challenges. The report is titled, “Blockchain in Financial Services: Regulatory Landscape and Future Challenges for its Commercial Application.” Seven Challenges....
A prototype currently being developed by Swiss infrastructure provider Six Securities is just the beginning of its plan to reimagine how its operations could be restructured and reimagined with distributed ledgers. Built in collaboration with Digital Asset Holdings, the prototype is designed to show how corporate actions (such as the sale of company shares or a change in leadership) could be communicated via the technology. Instead of shareholders being informed via middlemen, a single shared ledger, the firm believes, could near-instantly reflect the changes. While an early version of the....
Two central securities depositories (CSDs) have agreed to collaborate on distributed ledger initiatives in a first-of-its-kind agreement globally. Announced today, Strate and the National Securities Depository (NSD), the CSDs of South Africa and Russia, respectively, have agreed to collaborate to develop new solutions with the technology, starting first by focusing on extending NSD's past explorations into proxy voting. As part of the agreement, Strate and NSD say they will share information related to the standardization and regulation of blockchain and distributed ledgers. In statements,....
Comment added from Dr Timo Schlaefer, co-founder and CEO of Crypto Facilities, a bitcoin derivatives trading platform. The EU's securities watchdog has issued a call for evidence to ascertain if and when blockchain technology can "enter the financial mainstream". The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which oversees securities markets in the region, has spent six months monitoring investment in the bitcoin sector. Now the regulator is seeking feedback from industry stakeholders on how the technology underlying cryptocurrencies can be used to "issue, buy and sell and record....