The Australian Securities Exchange will cut up to 200 contractors working on a project to replace its main trading platform with blockchain technology after cancelling the overhaul.
After announcing plans in 2016 to replace its decades-old platform with distributed ledger technology the world’s 13th-largest stock exchange pulled the project last month citing an independent report which found it was riddled with problems.
The exchange had months earlier delayed the completion date of the overhaul – one of the most high profile cases of using blockchain technology, the same concept which underpins cryptocurrency – by 20 months to late 2024.
According to a spokeswoman, the ASX employed roughly 300 individuals on the now-cancelled project, of which one-third were permanent employees and the other two-thirds were consultants and contractors.
The company’s permanent employees will remain there, but “consultants and contractors whose work is currently suspended or is set to conclude will roll off the project in line with this,” the spokeswoman wrote in an email.
The representative further stated that the exchange had hired some of the overhaul’s contractors to work on a review of the project or other positions within the business.