LSE Group plans blockchain-powered digital markets business

The London Stock Exchange Group has made plans to use blockchain for a new digital markets business.

According to the LSEG, this will make it the first major exchange to host traditional trading on the blockchain platform, which typically powers crypto.

Head of capital markets at the LSEG Murray Roos told the Financial Times that the exchange has been exploring a possible blockchain-powered trading venue for around a year and has reached an “inflection point” in deciding to take the plans forward.

Julia Hoggett, head of the London Stock Exchange, has been asked to take the lead on the project.

The exchange is reportedly “definitely not” building anything around cryptoassets, but rather is planning to use the technology to improve the buying, selling and holding of traditional assets.

“The idea is to use digital technology to make a process that is slicker, smoother, cheaper and more transparent . . . and to have it regulated,” Roos said, according to the FT.

Roos also told the FT that the LSEG would be the first large global stock exchange to offer an “end to end” ecosystem powered by the blockchain, rather than just part of the process.

LSEG is considering using a separate legal entity for this new digital markets business, and hopes to have the first market running within the next year, subject to regulatory approvals.