Asia Pacific is the region most actively pursuing initiatives related to distributed ledger technology and digital assets, according to a survey by Citi.
APAC was the leading region in terms of pursuing initiatives related to distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets, according to a survey in a white paper by Citi. 48 percent of respondents in the region were pursuing initiatives with objectives including proof-of-concept (28 percent), minimum-viable-product (MVP) deployments (8 percent) and commercial scale deployments (12 percent).
Europe was the second-most active pursuer at 46 percent with North America (40 percent) and Latin America (40 percent) tied at third.
Settlement Speed
In terms of the agenda for blockchain technology adoption, respondents in Asia cited accelerated settlements to T+1 (28 percent) as the most impactful post-trade priority.
This was followed by settlement efficiency (14 percent) and adoption of digital assets (13 percent).
Digital Assets
Within digital assets, APAC was also the leading issuer. In the last five years, the region accounted for 41 percent of total digital security issuance. In terms of asset classes, 29 percent of APAC respondents viewed crypto as the fastest form of digital assets followed by equities (21 percent) and fixed income (19 percent).
«The accelerating convergence of traditional and digital assets and operating models reinforces the need for modern platforms, reliable data, and real-time information,» said Amit Agarwal, head of custody, securities services, Citi. «We expect to see continued investments into automation, cloud infrastructure, and APIs as well as solutions that integrate with DLT networks.»
The white paper, entitled «Securities Services Evolution 2024», was based on 494 survey respondents and 14 financial markets infrastructures and industry participants.
