The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Ant International have unveiled a report under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian, focusing on the use of tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledgers in foreign exchange (FX) settlement and cross-border payments. This initiative aims to enhance liquidity and efficiency in financial markets through asset tokenisation.
The report, developed by the Project Guardian FX industry group, outlines design principles for tokenised bank liabilities to standardise practices and enable interoperability. It also addresses key risks and mitigation strategies for shared ledger-based payments. Real-world use cases demonstrate the potential for faster and more secure cross-border transactions, potentially reducing settlement times to mere seconds.
Ant International’s blockchain-based Whale platform has been instrumental in developing a global treasury management use case for real-time multi-currency clearing and settlement. This innovation addresses the significant hurdles businesses face in cross-market payments, such as limited settlement windows and high transaction fees, which currently cost an estimated $120b annually.
Scott O’Malia, CEO of ISDA, emphasised the transformative potential of tokenisation in reducing costs and risks in FX settlements. Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, highlighted the company’s commitment to evolving their platform to support businesses of all sizes with the latest shared ledger technology.
The report is available on the MAS website, and ISDA, along with Ant International, plans to continue developing use cases to further integrate tokenised bank liabilities into existing banking systems, aiming to save businesses over $50b by 2030.
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