Paxos, a Blockchain company formerly known as ItBit, announced its strategic partnership with Euroclear to deploy a Blockchain settlement service for gold markets.

London Bullion Market integration

Euroclear, the world’s largest Belgium-based asset and securities settlement cooperative founded by J.P Morgan & Co., attended the SIBOS Annual Conference in Geneva, Switzerland with Paxos to announce their joint project and explain the importance of a secure and efficient infrastructure in unsystematic gold markets.

The Paxos-Euroclear gold market-focused Blockchain settlement solution will be the first of its kind and most likely the only Blockchain settlement platform to be integrated by a major market like the London Bullion Market.

Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla believes that a robust and secure Blockchain-based infrastructure will enable the London Bullion Market as well as other leading gold exchanges to autonomously process trades and increase the efficiency of the post-trade process.

Focus on private Blockchains

The team behind Paxos, which rebranded from ItBit to focus on the development of private Blockchains, plans to create a beneficial ecosystem for all investors and stakeholders in bullion markets by creating a unique technology called “Bankchain,” which will operate as the foundation of the entire Blockchain settlement platform.

"We are coming to market with a ground-breaking offering that will drastically impact the post-trade process and overall trading infrastructure within the global gold market,” explained Cascarilla. “This product represents the first concrete Blockchain used case for gold settlement in the London Bullion Market and is poised to benefit all investors and key stakeholders through our revolutionary Bankchain™ offering,” he added.

Euroclear and its Innovation department also feels entitled and responsible for bringing innovative technologies that hold the potential in optimizing settlement operations and trades in major markets.

Considering the size and the volume of gold markets and daily trades, Euroclear Managing Director and Global Head of Innovation Luc Vantomme believes the introduction of a reliable post trade service and settlement platform is vital for each stakeholder and investor in the gold market.

“As a neutral market infrastructure, with a track record of providing high quality and reliable post-trade services to some of the world's leading financial institutions, we are adopting a collaborative approach wherever possible, working with third-party innovators in ways that rewards their innovation while simultaneously giving us flexibility,” explained Vantomme.

Ultimately, Euroclear and the Paxos development team are looking to help global gold markets and exchanges decrease the massive costs and fees involved in post-trading and settlement of trades by implementing the Blockchain technology and the Paxos Bankchain.