Euroclear and US startup Paxos have dissolved a joint venture to build a blockchain-based service for the London gold market. The joint venture, which had been announced in June 2016, aimed to develop a new system to settle London bullion by using Paxos’ Bankchain technology. Paxos, which grew out of itBit, will continue to pursue its platform without Euroclear, which it plans to launch by 2018, according to a statement.
The joint system had already been tested with at least 16 market participants, including Citigroup, Societe Generale, Scotiabank and INTL FCStone. The project aimed to make settlement of unallocated gold less capital-intensive for banks and other market participants by using blockchain technology.