The Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE) will be soon make it possible to clients to trade cryptocurrencies as assets on its platform.

The Stock Exchange earlier today Tuesday 14^th August, 2018. That it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Blockchain start-up Blockstation for it to help create a new digital trading platform on which cryptocurrency transactions can be executed.

Speaking on this brilliant move, the JSE Managing Director Marlene Street Forrest, said that making cryptocurrencies available to clients is progressive and fits in with the equities, bonds and other financial investment instruments that the company already offers.

“The end game at the end of the day is to trade tokens, the end game is smart contracts, the end game is to provide that area of the market that would like this product, to start to do so in a secure manner.”

She explains that Blockstation is providing the technology that will power this innovation whiles JSE platform will run the transactions which will enable qualified investors to participate in the newly introduced market.

Marlene says that aside listing cryptocurrencies on the JSE, it will further explore other Blockchain opportunities that might inure to the benefit of the company and its clients. She even went further to imply that the stock exchange might issue its own cryptocurrency in the future.

“The environment changes, the entire ecosystem changes, so at that point in time that might be the case, although at this point in time that is not in discussion.”

Blockstation’s Chief Architect and co-founder Jai Waterman said that the project had been in the works in collaboration with the JSE for the past six (6) months. He believes that the long collaboration period has helped to perfect the platform even though there will be tweaks as it proceeds. Embedded in the platform is a feature to help detect and track market manipulation.

“Our mission is to provide a secure method of trading cryptocurrencies with broker-dealers and stock exchnages,” he said. “We are providing the stock exchange the technology for a broker-dealer network and repository, so that from end-to-end, their life cycle of trading  – just like with securities – they can do the exact same thing  with Blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”