Nearly nine out of ten exchanges and clearing houses around the world are either investigating distributed ledger technology (DLT) or actively pursuing blockchain initiatives.

That’s according to a study by the World Federation of Exchanges, which represents more than 200 market infrastructure providers including stock market operators and CCPs.

Firms are at different stages of their blockchain evolution, WFE notes, with one having already deployed a DLT-based application, some at proof-of-concept and others on the spectrum of evaluation, design and proof-of-technology.

Despite its potential, WFE’s latest the survey - conducted in partnership with IOSCO - notes that there are a number of barriers to the adoption of DLT, not least the relatively nascent stage of the technology, along with various regulatory, legal and technical risk factors and challenges around user take-up.

As such, expected time for DLT rollout varied from those respondents not prepared to commit to a time frame, to those citing rollout in less than three years. 

Respondents agreed that continuing collaboration and open dialogue is the most important next step in the evolution of DLT.

“A powerful finding from our survey is the overwhelming number of financial market infrastructures who are already progressing work around DLT,” said Nandini Sukumar, WFE's chief executive officer.

"This shows we are firmly moving towards a world where the technology could become applicable to global capital markets. DLT has been a key strategic focus for the WFE Post-Trade Working Group, and today’s research report is the first in a series of public material we will be issuing on the topic.”

Siobhan Cleary, WFE's head of research & public policy, added: “This is a vital piece of work with the AMCC Affiliate Members Consultative Committee , as we begin to understand the viewpoint of the global exchange and CCP industry on such a potentially business-critical topic,” added 

“Whether the hype around blockchain will be realised is still unclear, but what is clear is that at least some market participants are actively engaged in investigating the opportunities the technology presents.”