Blockchain platform Setl has appointed former executive director of the Bank of England Sir David Walker as its new chairman.

A financial markets veteran, Sir Walker has also served as chairman of Barclays, Morgan Stanley International and the Securities and Investment Board.

He is also a senior member of the G30 group, which elaborates and promotes progress in international payments and settlements. Prior to his career in financial markets, Sir Walker was the assistant secretary to the Treasury for the UK government.

Speaking about his upcoming role at Setl, Sir Walker said in a statement:

"Blockchain is an important advance in settlement technology and Setl has a compelling proposition for its deployment."

He added: "By simplifying the process of payments and settlement Setl should be able to deliver significant operational efficiencies which will benefit all market participants, and most importantly, reduce costs borne by savers and investors."

First announced in July this year, the startup sets out to streamline the way assets are exchanged by leveraging blockchain technology and subsequently bypassing intermediaries in the post-trade system.

Walker's appointment comes after Setl said in October that it was capable of processing 1 billion daily transactions, a figure it deemed a "milestone" for scaling blockchain technology. When it first burst on to the scene, Setl's network was processing 5,000 transactions per second, which works out to 432 million a day.

Meeting room image via Shutterstock