Kynetix Launches Blockchain Consortium for Commodities Markets
Kynetix, a post-trade technology company, is putting together a consortium to look into the use of distributed ledger technology in commodities markets.
UK-based Kynetix, a firm that deals in commodity post-trade technology platforms has launched a consortium focusing on integrating blockchain technology into commodities post-trades and mainstream financial services.
The firm announced an inaugural meeting to take place in London today wherein 15 major commodity exchanges, investment banks, brokers and clearing houses will collaborate in bringing blockchain to the physical economy.
Kynteix did not reveal the identities of the 15 participants in a press release [PDF]. In the same release, head of business development at Kynetix Guilaume Kendall said:
Our aim is to bridge the gap between the physical economy, the financial markets and blockchain technology in order to help the participants of the consortium explore and define the key areas where blockchain could be applied to this very unique physical marketplace.
The firm, which has an office in London and a development center in Croydon cites a successful white paper titled 7 Ways Blockchain Technology Could Disrupt the Post-Trade Ecosystem to be the trigger behind the project. The white paper, written by the firm’s chief executive Paul Smyth is available for download here .
The project bears a similar resemblance to another UK-based blockchain group put together to explore blockchain technology and its applications in settling securities trades. Headed by the likes of the London Stock Exchange and UBS, the group is tentatively titled ‘Post-Trade Distributed Ledger Working Group.’
Also read: London Stock Exchange, Banks and Trading Firms Create Blockchain Group
The most well-known initiative of the kind is the group put together by distributed ledger startup R3. On last count, New York-based R3 has 30 major global banks, and financial institutions signed up. The likes of ING and Wells Fargo are the most recent members.
Altogether, the endeavors by global settlement houses, banks, and commodities platforms confirm the increased interest in blockchain related initiatives for financial applications and the physical economy.
The block chain, a decentralized, distributed ledger and the underlying technology of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin also saw computing giant Microsoft recently announce an Ethereum-powered blockchain platform. The project will help existing Microsoft customers from its cloud-based platform Azure to experiment with blockchain applications in a sandbox. Similarly, Nasdaq also recently launched Linq, a private trading platform based on the blockchain that will help private companies trade their shares with each other.
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