Crypto broker BCB goes live on R3’ Corda network via LAB577’s DASL

Cryptocurrency prime brokerage BCB Group has announced that it is live with Digital Asset Shared Ledger (DASL), an enterprise-grade solution that gives institutions increased control, automation and connectivity required for handling digital assets.

Developed by software company LAB577, DASL is a Corda-based digital asset shared ledger for financial institutions that mitigates the business risks involved in handling digital assets. It provides the platform for crypto-brokers to join and utilize Corda, an open-source blockchain platform developed by R3, which enables interoperability between nodes across separate business networks, applications and processes.

“With seamless ledger and settlement services integrated into fiat banks and digital asset custodians, DASL’s shared ledger provides high speed bi-lateral transactions with full privacy between parties,” the press release reads.

“DASL allows financial institutions to re-invent their products and services using digital assets from primary issuance and secondary trading through to clearing and settlement.”

BCB has become the first to provide prime brokerage services for digital assets on Corda Network. CoinDesk reported that the firm will park both fiat and crypto holdings of its clients, while “mirrored representations” of these assets will trade on Corda. This will enable investors to conduct fiat-to-crypto or crypto-to-crypto transactions on the same system with instant settlement without the need to wait for bank transfer or public blockchain confirmation.

Speaking to CoinDesk, BCB Group CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie said that the firm is live with DASL with “a couple of beta clients” who are settling ethereum and British pounds in a "kind of closed environment" in a bilateral manner. The firm reportedly has a “pipeline of clients” to bring to Corda via DASL, including some big banks.

“It is live in the sense that it’s using the live Corda network and live Corda nodes, but not yet a released product out in the wild,” he said.

Landsberg-Sadie noted that one of the major impediments for financial institutions interested in entering digital asset markets is the uncertainty stemming from settlement and security risks.

“We identified LAB577’s Corda-based DASL solution as the most robust and credible way forward for trading and payments that not only mitigates those risks but also provides a scalable framework for the much more sophisticated financial instruments which lie ahead,” he added.