Precious metals post-trade settlement is moving to blockchain

Paxos, the parent company of crypto exchange itBit, is moving ahead with the first phase of what will become a blockchain-based post-trade settlement service for precious metals markets.

Blockchain to be used in the settlement of precious metals transactions

The company announced on Wednesday that London financial services company INTL FCStone will be the first to use Paxos Confirmation Service, a platform that will automate the post-trade settlement process and aims to reconcile trades instantly.

Counterparties in most precious metals transactions communicate manually – by phone or email – and document their dealings in time-consuming and error-prone paperwork.

Bankchain

While the initial test environment for Paxos Confirmation Service will not use blockchain, its ultimate offering will be a service called Bankchain – a blockchain enabled settlement service that has already received approval by New York’s Department of Financial Services.

Chief executive of Paxos Charles Cascarilla said: “Being able to change the post-trade processes will create a lot of leverage in terms of automation and freeing up capital that’s tied up because trades take so long to settle.”

He estimates that the error rate for manual confirmations in precious metals trading is around 15%.