Blockchain industry executives are addressing the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, telling the Republican-dominated panel that the sector should be allowed to flourish even as federal agencies and the White House carry out a crackdown against major players in the digital-assets business. Prepared remarks for a hearing on “ensuring American leadership in blockchain and other distributed-ledger technologies” seek to portray the industry as a positive force, albeit one that...

Financial services giant Broadridge is now facilitating $70 billion worth of repurchase agreements on the distributed ledger technology, called VMWare Blockchain, a 40% increase since February, according to German Soto-Sanchez, head of Broadridge’s corporate strategy. Users include Swiss bank UBS and Paris-based Société Générale. By moving each step of the repo process, in which securities are purchased with an agreement from a third-party to repurchase them later, to the shared ledger, the...