Custodians have been obliged since 2019 to check that holders of cryptocurrencies and Stablecoins are not money launderers, terrorists or sanctions evaders. (1)  What impact have those obligations had on the day-to-day practice of digital asset custodians?  Both traditional custodian banks and specialist digital asset custodians have recognised the need to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) obligations to run Anti Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financi

Why do digital asset custodians exist at all when blockchain was invented to eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries? Issuers and investors, and intermediaries such as asset managers and brokers, are agreed that custodians are essential to secure mainstream adoption of digital assets. Such universal agreement reflects the fact that custodians reassure investors, asset managers and brokers that their assets are safe, and their privacy and confidentiality will be respecte

​* R3’s Corda dominates the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market, with over $10 billion in on-chain assets – setting the standard for industry adoption * Trusted by the world’s leading banks, Corda represents the largest ecosystem of live RWA networks, processing over 1 million transactions each day  * Client momentum across R3’s digital products suite, supported by regulatory and industry tailwinds, is driving the highest number of live applications in production globally

What is the event about? This virtual round table is a Thought Leadership discussion focused on how to solve the biggest single obstacle to progress in the tokenisation of securities and funds: the lack of liquidity. Liquidity is touted routinely as a benefit of tokenising securities and funds. But liquidity is not just a consequence of tokenisation at scale. It is also a cause of large and active markets in security and fund tokens. So what is this cause-and-effect thing tha

A Future of Finance interview with Sanjeev Birari, Co-Founder and CBO of Zoniqx. Zoniqx, the California based pioneer of tokenisation...

What are the incentives for private debt and equity issuers to tokenise their offerings? Securities token offerings (STOs) are suited to companies that are too big for crowd-funding platforms and too small for the conventional capital markets. So it is not surprising that the audience thought private debt and equity issuers are not just the obvious beneficiaries of tokenisation (Chart 1) but the issuers with the greatest appetite to tokenise securities (Chart 2) and the issue

USDC Stablecoin issuer Circle has acquired the USYC tokenised money market fund issued by Hashnote Circle will integrate the USYC tokenised money market fund with its USDC Stablecoin The integration will enable cryptocurrency traders to switch easily on-chain between tokenised cash and tokenised interest-bearing collateral USDC issuer Circle has   acquired Hashnote, the issuer of the US Yield Coin (USYC) tokenised money market fund, which currently has US$1.52 billion in asse

Circle, issuer of the USDC Stablecoin, says it will support the use of USDC by participants of the Canton Network blockchain The recent acquisition by Circle of the USYC tokenised money market fund means Canton Network users can use USDC in tandem with USYC The USDC-USYC combination will appeal to cryptocurrency firms looking to trade tokenised securities and funds as well as cryptocurrencies Circle says its USDC Stablecoin will be available on Canton Network. It means USDC c

Discover how tokenisation is revolutionising asset management. Learn how tokenisation helps distribute products to new investors effectively.

What tokenisation will enable the financial markets to deliver tomorrow which they cannot provide today

Why the benefits of tokenisation depend on the issuance of “native” rather than “asset-backed” (or "digital twin”) digital assets

How a common platform or unified ledger could unleash network effects in the token markets

Does tokenisation have a scaling problem today and, if so, why?  Some token platforms are growing. But tokenisation as a whole is struggling to scale. This is largely because the business case for adoption is not yet clear. However, the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) bubble of 2017, the cryptocurrency crisis of 2022 and the Proofs of Concept and Pilot Tests of the early explorations of blockchain by regulated institutions were important staging posts and are in the past. The ind

What are the costs of lack of digital money on chain? The absence of on-chain money to settle the cash leg of transactions on blockchains and pay entitlements has many negative effects on the security and fund token markets. Ultimately, every tokenisation use-case depends on the availability of on-chain cash to realise its potential value to users. After all, a large part of the appeal of blockchain is its ability to capture transactions, settlements and transaction records o

Are vested interests at work? Regulated financial institutions have adopted a cautious approach to tokenisation. But the main reason is not protection of existing revenue streams. It is a concern that the existing structure of the capital markets reflects the lessons of experience, and that it would be foolish to jettison that knowledge and the safeguards it erected in pursuit of the cost savings afforded by disintermediation. That said, there are cases where incumbents resis

What do asset managers and asset owners need to know about digital asset custody and custodians? Date: December 4th 2024 Venue: The Aon Centre, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AN 1 Day Event: 9.15am to 7.30pm This Future of Finance one day Digital Asset Custody Event will explore issues of pressing concern to Asset owners and their consultants; and from them to asset and wealth managers, bank (and non-bank) digital asset custodians global custodi

What is the event about? What will catalyse the growth of the tokenised securities and fund markets? Lists of obstacles to growth – lack of fiat currency on blockchains and regulatory uncertainty chief among them – are not hard to find. But the purpose of this Round Table is not to rehearse what we know already. It is to remake the case for tokenisation by identifying the problems that tokenisation solves, and the benefits tokenisation confers, asset class by asset class, and

How the obstacles to scalable tokenisation are being cleared, with special guests Andreas Ruflin of BX Digital and Benedikt Schuppli of...

This Future of Finance half day event will provide a series of interviews and panel discussions that will explore how tokenisation is...

Tokenisation of securities and funds is going to happen. How will you and your organisation survive it? The potential gains from the tokenisation of securities and funds are immense. Governments and corporates would pay less for equity and debt capital. Investors would enjoy higher returns on portfolios that cost less to create and maintain. Asset managers would distribute more profitable individualised savings products to wider audiences at lower costs. Economies would inves