Wall Street Hunts for Its Blockchain ‘Killer App’

Two years ago, a behind-the-scenes giant in U.S. financial markets went live with one of Wall Street’s biggest and most ambitious blockchain initiatives.

Known as Project Ion, the effort aimed to use blockchain to revolutionize settlement of stock trades, when buyers fork over the cash and get share certificates. Firms ranging from big banks like JPMorgan Chase to trading app Robinhood got involved. But it didn’t catch on, a person familiar with the project said, and the firm at the center of the effort, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., quietly ended the effort late last year.