The International Securities Services Association released key findings of its “DLT in the Real World” industry survey, which details how and where DLT and digital assets are taking hold in the capital markets as well as what the business cases are built on, what challenges practitioners face and where the technology is being used to deliver benefits.
Key survey headlines:
- 39% of the industry is now live with DLT, a 7% increase on last year. Meanwhile, project ‘building’ activity has declined by 7% year-over-year.
- Respondents report getting better at managing our DLT projects, with 75% now delivering against expected returns (up from 49% in 2022).
- Cost efficiencies are now the key driver of DLT projects (core to 28% of respondents). But liquidity benefits are only 28% driving 9% of projects. Are we missing an opportunity?
- Five key asset classes are ready to scale – consistently meeting and exceeding expectations. Leading the list are OTC derivatives, structured products and securities finance.
- DLT is more important than ever to the buy side in 2023, but asset owners are disengaging with DLT – seeing it as 50% less relevant to their businesses than last year.
- Respondents are taking a longer-term view of DLT, with an 8% less shift in the time-horizon that respondents expect DLT to deliver in: From this year to over 3-5 years.
- The business case is (increasingly) the biggest challenge in realizing DLT projects – with 59% of respondents struggling (up 10% from 2022).
Source: Value Exchange