Blockchain could create a bigger, leaner private equity market, but the technology is still in its early stages. In February 2017, Chicago-based Northern Trust launched the first commercial deployment of blockchain technology for the private equity market in a Guernsey-domiciled fund managed by Geneva, Switzerland-based Unigestion. “Private equity firms are interested in innovation and delivering better solutions to their clients, like a new way of doing a particular process,” said Justin Chapman, global head of market advocacy and innovation at Northern Trust.