Australian Securities Exchange scraps its $167 million, seven-year-long blockchain project

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has finally pulled the plug on their project that would have replaced the aging CHESS system that is used for transfer and settlement. The group had spent seven years and AU$250 million (US$167 million) on a private blockchain project, which has suffered repeated delays and setbacks. A recent, third-party report by Accenture on the project estimated that it was only 63% complete, and was excessively complex, "including in the way ASX requirements interact with the application and underlying ledger". The project has grappled with issues including lack of throughput to settle trades.

ASX will write off the AU$245–$255 million (US$164–$170M) they have poured into the project, and start again on designing a replacement for the CHESS system.