Blockchain Application to Financial Market Clearing and Settlement Systems

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

I find your paper quite interesting, but I'd like to highlight some points:

1.      This paper employs the PRISMA process to compile and present 59 papers that explore the use of blockchain technology within financial market clearing and settlement systems. This compilation aims to emphasize the significance of this research. Personally, I suggest that, instead of merely listing the titles and publication years of the 59 papers, as depicted in Figure 2, it would be more beneficial to summarize and categorize their primary findings based on detailed content. Such an approach is essential to underscore the unique contributions of this paper.

2.      While blockchain technology's utilization in financial market clearing and settlement systems has gained attention through various media outlets over the past several years, it remains a relatively unfamiliar subject to the general public. I strongly believe that presenting a real-world case of a company that has either already implemented blockchain or is preparing to do so could significantly enhance the understanding and engagement of general readers with this topic.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your review. Please find the updated response attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The topic of the paper is relevant and of interest, however, there are some areas for improvement. Please see attached. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your review. Please find the response attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

I congratulate the authors on a very useful and, most importantly, timely review. The only thing that causes me some disappointment is the simple listing of different implementations of the level ONE technology and platform, and not a comparative analysis of approaches. Although I admit that most probably the time has not yet come for such an analysis.

Author Response

Thank you for your review. Please find the response attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Blockchain Application to Financial Markets Clearing and Settlement Systems provides an excellent beginning to a literature review that then converts to an advertisement of L1X in sections 7-11.  While there is nothing wrong with introducing L1X as a solution to problems identified in the literature, it should be noted that this paper claims to be literature review but doesn’t appear to have any citations after page 6 (where the discussion switches to L1X). Additionally, there are 5 sections in only 3 pages (section 7-11 on pages 7-9) demonstrating a lack of depth.  These sections could really be combined into one. This is disappointing because up to page 7 the authors show a strong understanding of the technology and clearly poses the ability to provide a detailed discussion of the literature. 

There are several other less significant issues that should be addressed in a revised version.

Two of the authors work for the L1X foundation, with the L1X token for some reason a focus of the paper. While this academic-industry partnership brings together expertise that strengthens the paper, it should be disclosed in the conflicts of interest section.

Appendix A  - I believe these citations should be combined into the bibliography as I don’t think the contents of the table will count as citations in indexing databases.  This will increase the article’s readership. 

Figure 2 could be clearer (small font) and you might want to remove the words “Axis Title”

On pages 3 and 4 there are lists of key features and challenges with the ASX and blockchain and Project Ion.  In these, the bullet points next to challenges should be removed as they are supposed to be headings.

While not absolutely necessary, I also recommend increasing the number of keywords to increase the visibility of the article.  Terms such as Project Ion, CHESS and ASX may be beneficial.

I encourage the authors to make these revisions and discuss the literature in a revised manuscript of this literature review. 

Author Response

Thank you for your review. Please find the response attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The revisions address the concerns I had with the original draft. This is a nice piece of research, interesting and relevant.  I wish the authors the best going forward with their research endeavors. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your support and feedback on helping us improve this paper. Really appreciated!

With Regards

Nipun

Reviewer 4 Report

The updated manuscript for Blockchain Application to Financial Markets Clearing and Settlement Systems significantly improves the flow of the review and adequately addresses all major concerns.  The review would, however, still benefit from an increased discussion of the reviewed literature. Aside from this, it is an interesting manuscript that combines the expertise of both academics and industry. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your feedback. A thematic review has been added to section 5 including figure 3 - explaining what the themes that the 59 papers relate to. This further extends to explaining the 4 key learning from these 59 papers provided on pages 7-8. I am hoping that this meets your expectations on what you require in terms of an increased discussion on the literature review.

With Regards

Nipun