According to recent documents, blockchain consortium Hyperledger have witnessed over 15 of their members either cut their financial support for the project or quit the group over the past few months
Hyperledger held a general board meeting on Friday where it was revealed that exchange operators CME Group and Deutsche Boerse have reduced their membership role in the consortium, a move that will be effected at the end of January 2018.
With Linux Foundation at the head, Hyperledger was established two years ago with the aim of developing blockchain technology for businesses. The blockchain technology was invented with the purpose of powering cryptocurrency bitcoin but has started to gain widespread use in the financial sector of the economy.
Both CME Group and Deutsche Boerse are premier members of the consortium but will become general members after the downgrade.
According to Hyperledger’s website, premier members command a seat at the board and pay an annual fee of $250,000. General members on the other hand just pay the sum of 5,000 to $50,000 based on the size of the companies
Another premier member, R3, which is a fellow blockchain consortium has also downgraded its membership, the document further added. Spokespeople for both CME Group and R3 confirmed the move while the spokesperson for Deutsche Boerse declined to comment.
The executive of the consortium, Brian Behlendorf while making a statement said that the group has witnessed “tremendous growth in membership” in 2017. He further added that
“We have seen some members who were part of the initial December 2015 cohort shift their spending priorities but remain members of the organization. We have seen others who never really engaged decide not to renew. This is normal and expected.”
With the hopes of simplifying the banking and trading systems, banks and other big corporations have so far invested millions of dollars in developing their blockchain technology. To ensure that the development is fast-tracked, some of these companies have partnered with industry groups including the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and R3.
Some large firms are downgrading their support for Hyperledger because large corporations are now very selective with their blockchain efforts as the technology continues to grow. This year, R3 has lost JP Morgan Chase & Co. after fellow investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Banco Santander and others withdraw their partnership.
