Design and Implementation of Corporate Actions on a Decentralized Securities Depository

Sammanfattning: Trading securities is a process that requires multiple trusted intermediaries to ensure that the trade is done correctly. The securities industry is therefore very slow and expensive; the central securities depository (CSD) being one of the main contributors to the disruption. In an effort to fix this, financial institutions has recently started looking into the blockchain technology; the innovation behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be traded peer-to-peer without the need for a trusted intermediary. If this concept could be used when trading securities it would simplify the process, making the settlement-time near instant. In addition to the speedup, it would also save the industry a lot of money since many processes could be automated. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the blockchain technology and its applications in the finance industry. The focus is on how a blockchain could be used to reduce the responsibility of the central securities depository as much as possible, and especially on how corporate actions could be automated. The goal is to answer these questions: Is blockchain a suitable platform for a decentralized corporate actions solution? Whatare the benefits and drawbacks of using a blockchain versus a traditional centralized solution? The aim is to provide an evaluation of the usage of blockchains in finance, with extra focus on the CSD and corporate actions