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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has sued the country’s leading stock exchange in Federal Court, alleging it made “misleading and deceptive” statements over its now-abandoned project to replace its aging systems with blockchain technology.&nbsp;
ASIC <a href="https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-177mr-asic-sues-asx-for-alleged-misleading-statements/?altTemplate=betanewsroom" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> on Aug. 14 that the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX’s) statements that the replacement project for its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) trading platform was “on track for go-live” in April 2023 and was “progressing well” were misleading.
The <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/an-overview-of-the-cryptocurrency-regulations-in-australia" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">regulator</a> claimed the project “was not tracking to plan” at the time the statements were made in early February 2022, and the ASX had no “reasonable basis” to imply the project would be ready by that date.
“We allege that the true state of affairs as at 10 February 2022 was that the project was not ‘progressing well,’ contrary to ASX’s announcement,” said ASIC Chair Joe Longo. “We believe this was a collective failure by the ASX Board and senior executives at the time.”
ASIC said it has not yet determined the penalty it will seek.
<figure><img alt="ASX sued over prior statements about its now-abandoned blockchain project" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/Screenshot%202024-08-14%20at%2011-21-01%20ASIC%20Media%20on%20X%20ASIC%20has%20commenced%20proceedings%20in%20the%20Federal%20Court%20against%20Australia%E2%80%99s%20largest%20market%20operator%20ASX%20Limited%20for%20allegedly%20making%20misleading%20statements%20related%20to%20its%20Clearing%20House%20Electronic%20Subr%5B...%5D">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://x.com/asicmedia/status/1823491475868672146" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ASIC</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
When asked for comment, ASX pointed Cointelegraph to a <a href="https://www.asx.com.au/content/dam/asx/about/media-releases/2024/33-14-august-2024-asx-statement-on-asic-proceedings.pdf" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">statement</a> by ASX Managing Director and CEO Helen Lofthouse, who said it recognizes “the significance and serious nature of these proceedings.”
“We cooperated fully with ASIC’s investigation and are now carefully reviewing and considering the allegations,” Lofthouse added.
<h2 id="strong-asx-wanted-to-replace-chess-with-blockchain-tech-strong">ASX wanted to replace CHESS with blockchain tech</h2>
In early 2016, ASX made the decision to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/australian-securities-exchange-confirms-itll-go-blockchain-in-2021" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">replace CHESS</a> — the computer system to manage the settlement of share transactions and record shareholdings — first introduced in the mid-1990s.&nbsp;
Nearly two years later, it settled on a distributed ledger technology-based (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/roots-of-defi-artificial-intelligence-big-data-cloud-computing-and-distributed-ledger-technology" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DLT</a>) system.
In November 2022 — after five years of work, multiple delays and blowing through $170 million (255 million Australian dollars) — ASX said it “paused” <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/aussie-stock-exchange-abandons-blockchain-plans-leaving-170m-hole" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">activity on the project</a> after consulting firm Accenture found “significant challenges with the solution design and its ability to meet ASX’s requirements.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/australian-police-teams-chainalysis-crypto-crime" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Australian federal police to probe 2,000 exploited crypto wallets</a>
It <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/australian-stock-exchange-officially-abandons-blockchain-plans-report" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">later abandoned</a> its blockchain plans to explore more conventional options.
ASIC’s Longo said the replacement project “must be managed effectively and transparently.”
“Failure to do so can lead to a lack of confidence in Australia as a market to attract investment,” he added.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/thorchain-founder-jp-thor-vampire-attack-defi/" text="null" title="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">THORChain founder and his plan to ‘vampire attack’ all of DeFi</a>

ASX sued over prior statements about its now-abandoned blockchain project

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