The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the biggest financial-transaction processing company in the world, has teamed up with IBM and two blockchain startups to start work on a new trade-records system for the derivatives market, that's based on the famous database technology.

The partners believe the new project, for which development begins in January, could lead to easier, cheaper and safer record-keeping for derivatives trades, both for DTCC and the myriad financial services firms that clear and settle trades through its systems.