JANUARY2016EMBRACINGDISRUPTIONTAPPINGTHEPOTENTIALOFDISTRIBUTEDLEDGERSTOIMPROVETHEPOST-TRADELANDSCAPEAWHITEPAPERTOTHEINDUSTRYTABLEOFCONTENTSIntroduction.........................................................................................................1ExecutiveSummary..............................................................................................2TheEvolutionofToday’sFinancialMarkets..........................................................4LimitationsoftheCurrentFinancialMarketInfrastructures................................5KeyFeaturesofBlockchainandDistributedLedgersExplained...........................6TheStateofDistributedLedgerTechnologyToday................................................8BuildingBlocksforLeveragingDistributedLedgersinFinancialServices.........10LeveragingDistributedLedgers.........................................................................12Conclusion.........................................................................................................181INTRODUCTIONDTCCisanindustry-ownedandgovernedfinancialmarketutilitywithmorethan40yearsofexperiencemitigatingriskanddrivingoperationsandcostefficienciesforthefinancialindustry.Webelievethatrealizingthepromiseofdistributedledgersliesinaligningthetechnologywiththesecoreprinciplestoleveragenewopportunitiesandsimplifyorreplacelegacysystems.TheemergenceoftheBitcoinpaymentnetwork1anditsassociatedecosystemofblockchains,sidechainsandaltchainshavebeendescribedasagenerationaldisruptiveforceinthefinancialservicesindustry.Whilesomeoftheconceptsofdistributedelectroniccurrencieshaveexistedsinceatleastthe1990s2,theimplementationofBitcoinandthewhitepaperthatdescribeditwerethewatershedmomentinuse,adoptionandpopularizationofadecentralizedcrypto-currency.WhileBitcoinasapaymentmechanismisbeingdiscussedandresearchedinmanyotherforums,theBitcointechnologyplatform,commonlyreferredtoastheblockchainordistributedledger,isconsideredinthispaperforapplicationtopost-tradeprocessingandotherfuncti...
