You know something is very wrong when the corporate cops charge a company with duping its own investors via the monopoly trading platform that it operates.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is suing ASX Ltd for allegedly misleading its own investors in 2022 when it told them that everything was fine with the project to replace its core systems that handle billions of dollars of share trades every day.

The corporate watchdog is suing ASX Ltd.Credit: Adobe Stock

The blockchain project collapsed before 2022 ended, and the market operator will be dealing with the fallout for years to come.

A comment from ASIC chairman Joe Longo from when the legal action was announced last year – with a potential $500 million penalty – was particularly damning. He basically said the corporate watchdog expects ASX to uphold the standards of the market that the ASX itself applies to every other listed company – collectively worth more than $2.6 trillion – operating on its trading platform. Ouch.

It is a reflection of the ASX’s unusual position. It is a publicly traded stock – worth more than $12 billion – but ASX Ltd is listed on the share trading platform that it operates and polices, which is why ASIC needs to step in to ensure ASX plays by the rules it enforces on the thousands of other listed stocks.

The advantage of operating a critically important monopoly is that the ASX can protect its owner from some of the financial fallout that would normally follow.

ASX chief executive Helen Lofthouse is in the hot seat, but the problems go back years before her appointment.Credit: Louise Kennerley

On Thursday, ASX Ltd reported a strong rise in revenue, net profit (to........

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