The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has further pushed back the launch date of the blockchain-based alternative of its equities clearing and settlement system till April 2023.

Announced on Wednesday, the new ‘go-live’ date came after the exchange set the launch date for earlier in April 2022. Originally set for a launch by the end of 2020, the project was delayed multiple times in the past.

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The proposed decentralized system will replace the legacy CHESS system of the exchange, making the infrastructure more efficient.

In its press release, ASX mentioned that the latest decision to delay the launch was taken after receiving feedback from 100 organizations. All of them pointed out the impact of COVID-19 in the industry.

“ASX has listened to the industry, regulators and its technology partners throughout this project,” ASX CEO, Dominic Stevens said. “It is clear that COVID-19 continues to impact the whole industry, including ASX, and this has evolved what our stakeholders want from the CHESS replacement system.”

Modifications in the Infrastructure

The exchange pointed out that its stakeholders can meet their ends for launching the decentralized infrastructure by April 2022. However, many are seeking extra industry testing and adding functionalities to reduce manual processes.

Meanwhile, the market volatility in March has raised the requirement for exchange infrastructure, and ASX now wants more throughput capacity and scalability for its CHESS replacement.

“The functional scope, capacity, scalability, and testing of the CHESS replacement system now being developed is greater. It captures the increased requirements of ASX and the industry and lowers the risk in delivering them. It is also consistent with ASX addressing the expectations of the regulatory agencies that CHESS be replaced as soon as it can be achieved safely and that the new system meets the market’s needs,” Stevens added.