ISITC (International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication) has published a press release on the inaugural meeting of its Blockchain Working Group, hosted by London Metropolitan University.
Blockchain is one of the main fields the organisation is going to concentrate on this year. To promote the blockchain discussion, ISITC encourages other forums devoted to this technology to invite ISITC members to their gatherings. Correspondingly, members of other forums are invited to the future conferences of the Blockchain Working Group, says the press release.
Not only does the blockchain technology facilitate bitcoin and smart contracts, there is also a possibility to run markets on blockchain, reads Dr Hermann Rapp’s presentation at the meeting. This is provided by its primary feature: giving an opportunity to transmit value at a distance without an intermediary.
The meetings of the Working Group will be regular. Other ISITC groups will also join their experience to promote a more efficient blockchain research. This will be made possible through the ISITC Europe Leadership Group (IELG), where group leaders meet to formulate a common agenda and to coordinate their effort.
Four other ISITC working groups are related to Regulations, Standards, Industry Engagement and specifically MiFID (EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive). The Regulations working group concentrates on the securities market in Europe and the “disruption caused by multiple regulations.” The Standards group investigates areas where unification is required. The Industry Engagement group focuses on involving financial market practitioners into one community and providing them with a solid information and research basis. The MiFID Forum includes various smaller subject groups that work with certain aspects of the impact of MiFID on business and technology.
These groups are chaired by experts from leading financial companies, such as Ernst&Young or DTCC. It seems clear that their collaboration may indeed be useful to further introduce blockchain to the financial market and work out the necessary regulations and standards for the growing technology.
ISITC Europe is a nonprofit voluntary organisation established in 1992. Blockchain research gains popularity: by organising the Blockchain Working Group, ISITC follows the trend set by the Linux Foundation, PwC and the US Government.
Andrew Levich
