AST that offers transfer agent, governance services and proxy solicitation, announced that it will deliver a blockchain-based system for proxy voting.

The company has collaborated with blockchain solution provider NuArca and the blockchain system is expected to start by the 2018 proxy season. With the partnership, AST is accelerating the rollout of its offerings based on blockchain technology and the company is exploring how blockchain can be leveraged to enhance its client-facing solutions like proxy voting and recordkeeping.

AST has been conducting various tests in blockchain under the leadership of President and Chief Executive Officer Brian J. Longe and has already developed a working prototype that showcases the ability as well as value of blockchain, the release stated.

“AST recognized early on the value and efficiency that blockchain can bring to our business and to the industry as a whole,” Longe said. “As we look to the future, we plan to leverage internally-developed DLT as well as best-in-class third party blockchain solutions to enhance our core services, ultimately improving shareholder experience and engagement.”

The partners will work together to offer advances in proxy analytics and reporting that makes use of immutable blockchain results and real-time facts in order to support issuers in the creation and execution of successful proxy campaign strategies.

“While there is plenty of buzz in the industry about blockchain’s potential, few firms have been able to move from the ideation and development stage into the launch of real-world applications. The blockchain-based proxy voting solution that we are developing with AST will result in a targeted solution that will deliver real value in the coming year,” Todd Cooper, Co-founder and Managing Director of NuArca, stated.

The blockchain-based solution will facilitate greater transparency and confidence in data handling, thus allowing issuers to make more informed decisions and strategy adjustments. It will also allow AST’s proxy solicitation experts to access advanced predictive analytics to guide complex proxy solicitations.

The collaboration of AST and NuArca represents one of many new initiatives for the company under Longe. The new blockchain solution marks first in a forthcoming suite of offerings based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) that AST plans to bring to market in the coming years.