Today in Crypto: DTCC Debuts Private Blockchain for Settlements; CryptoPunks NFT Floor Price Overtakes Bored Apes

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a post-trade market infrastructure for the financial services industry around the world, debuted a distributed ledger technology (DLT) with its new Project Ion platform, a company news release said Monday (Aug. 22).

Project Ion is parallel processing around 100,000 bilateral equity transactions a day, with DTCC’s Depositary Trust Company settlement system as the authoritative record.

The project’s goal is to provide a “resilient, secure and scalable” settlement service which will let clients use DLT if they want. DTCC partnered with enterprise technology provider R3 to develop Project Ion using R3’s Corda DLT software.

See also: R3 Blockchain Finds a Foothold Beyond Banks

Murray Pozmanter, managing director, president of DTCC Clearing Agency Services and head of Global Business Operations, said it’s a “milestone” achievement and shows the DTCC working to keep abreast of innovation.

“Project Ion is an important step forward in advancing digitalization in financial markets and opens the door to exciting, new opportunities to drive greater efficiencies, risk management and cost savings for the industry,” he said. “Digitized assets and emerging technology like DLT are shaping and evolving the financial services landscape, and we remain committed to advancing innovative solutions that capitalize on opportunities, deliver new value and drive the industry forward.”

Meanwhile, CryptoPunk NFTs were briefly higher in floor price than rival blue chip collection Bored Ape Yacht Club on Monday (Aug. 22), according to Coindesk.

The floor price refers to the lowest price an NFT in a collection can be purchased for. If the floor price is high, it indicates high demand.

This is what’s known as a “flippening” in the crypto world, meaning both communities have long desired to be the most valuable in the space.

But the flip didn’t last long, as Bored Apes ended up retaking its throne by late morning New York time.

Punks has found itself on top before, or close — the early NFT project held the title of most valuable PFP collection from 2019 until last December, when Bored Apes took the lead.