Blockchain and financial markets: will computers push out brokers?
The stock market and the crypto market is the key to a successful economy and attracting investment in it. Today it works in every civilized country and allows citizens to effectively manage free capital and businesses to receive resources, which stimulates the development of the economy and improves the financial performance of the state. The securities market has become accessible to almost everyone thanks to financial technologies and digitalization. Nowadays, fintech daily offers new solutions to optimize the stock market, and in the past, financial technology has made a real revolution in trading.
A blockchain database made up of a network of users, each of whom stores their own copy of the data, giving rise to the name “distributed ledger technology” (DLT). A digital ledger, a consensus mechanism for confirming transactions, and a network of node operators are the basic components of a DLT network (see figure 1 for the network setup). In most position papers and popular media, the terms DLT and blockchain are used interchangeably, however some believe DLT to be a more generic concept.
First exchanges and over-the-counter trading.
The first stock exchanges appeared in the 16th century, when states began to issue securities. The first international exchange created by merchants in Bruges, and in the 17th century the Netherlands became the center of trade: the Amsterdam Stock Exchange began to trade non-state securities – shares of the East India Trading Company.
In other European countries, stock exchanges have been appearing since the beginning of the 18th century, along with joint-stock enterprises. In England at this time, on the initiative of brokers, the London Stock Exchange appears, the non-exchange stock market is also emerging․
Computerization of the stock market: the first electronic systems.
Stock tickers used until the 1960s, after which they gradually replaced by dedicated computer terminals. The computerization of the stock market made it possible to speed up the receipt of information about trading in securities and, on the whole, had a positive effect on the industry, as it simplified many operations for brokers.
In the early 1960s, Jack Scantlin of Scantlin Electronics developed the first device that displayed stock quotes on a screen instead of on tape. The Quotron apparatus was a terminal with a screen and a keyboard for quickly querying information. The system built around four Control Data CDC-160A computers using magnetic core memory for high performance. Quotron terminals were connected to these central computers via the AT&T telephone network (it launched the first commercial Telstar satellite in 1962) using AT&T Dataphone modems.
Stock markets go online
Since the 1980s, floor trading replaced by telephone and electronic trading systems. Classic floor trading and voice trading are becoming a thing of the past and used for certain market segments, such as the New York Stock Exchange (in 2020, about 18% of the total trading volume was on the physical floor). Today, almost all stock exchanges trade electronically.
Classic stock market vs blockchain stock market
Today, blockchain talked about not only in the context of cryptocurrencies, but also as a solution that can revolutionize the stock market. It is seen as an alternative to clearing mechanisms, brokers and custodians, since the direct transfer of assets removes the need to store them with third parties and transfer them through intermediaries, and the security of transactions removes the need for clearing.
Today, methods for storing and reconciling data on financial obligations are very complex, use disparate data and IT infrastructure components, do not have common standards, suffer from duplication of processes and high time costs for completing tasks.
Blockchain in the stock market will provide reliable encryption methods. Security and anonymity of confidential data, mutual authentication without the participation of a central regulatory body. Open the most complete sets of data, such as beneficial ownership levels and other information that participants in the transaction can disclose to each other. Reduce the risk of errors. disputes, negotiation delays, and not asking the central authority will help reduce the risk of congestion.