Source: tZero
On January 27, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an order (the “Order) approving the creation of BSTX as a trading facility of BOX Exchange. BSTX, a joint venture of tZERO Group, Inc., and BOX Digital Markets LLC (“BOX Digital”) will be the first fully-automated, price/time priority execution exchange for trading securities that is both regulated by the SEC and leverages private blockchain technologies.
The highly-anticipated SEC approval provides substantial benefits to U.S. capital markets by offering:
• Shorter Settlements. BSTX is the first securities exchange to allow participants to choose accelerated settlement (i.e., T+0 or T+1) for transactions on the exchange. BSTX’s approach is integrated with the accelerated clearance and settlement capabilities supported by NSCC and DTC.
• Proprietary Blockchain Data Feeds. Regarding trading activity on BSTX, BSTX will use a secure, private- permissioned blockchain that it controls to make participant market data available to them and to make general market data available to industry participants.
“The SEC has taken an important step forward today in its approval of BSTX as a national securities exchange facility,” said BSTX CEO Lisa Fall. “We are eager to continue to work closely with the SEC to launch BSTX as a fully regulated exchange and to help provide capital markets with more modern tools for issuers and investors. We are particularly grateful to our technology partner in this endeavor tZERO. We are looking forward to continuing to work with them to provide institutional-grade trading technology to participants on BSTX.”
As the newest national securities exchange, BSTX creates a new dynamic for retail and institutional investors as well as issuers while setting a new standard for the use of blockchain by spearheading adoption of innovative technology for use cases in the mainstream securities markets.
In addition to new opportunities for more efficient allocation of issuer and investor capital the exchange will serve as an industry sandbox. “Our overarching goal is to empower developers and exchange observers to leverage the innovation and modern market structure currently being used in crypto and blockchain technologies to come up with ideas to improve the securities listing and trading experience for all,” said Ms. Fall.
“Today’s approval is only the start for BSTX. We are encouraged and energized by the outreach to date from both traditional and non-traditional finance participants. Utilizing future rule filings, we plan to respond with a series of further innovations that will benefit both the issuer and trading communities,” continued Ms. Fall.