Fnality,
a
fintech
firm
building
tokenized
versions
of
major
currencies
collateralized
by
cash
held
at
central
banks,
has
raised
$95
million
(£77.7m)
in
Series
B
funding
led
by
Goldman
Sachs
and
BNP
Paribas.
DTCC,
Euroclear,
Nomura
and
WisdomTree
participated
in
the
round,
which
also
saw
further
commitment
from
a
number
of
banks
that
backed
Fnality’s
$63m
fundraise
back
in
2019:
Banco
Santander,
BNY
Mellon,
Barclays,
CIBC,
Commerzbank,
ING,
Lloyds
Banking
Group,
Nasdaq
Ventures,
State
Street,
Sumitomo
Mitsui
Banking
Corporation,
and
UBS.
The
tokenization
of
traditional
finance
assets
on
permissioned,
or
in
some
cases
public
blockchains
like
Ethereum,
is
a
buzzy
topic
of
late.
Fnality,
previously
known
as
the
Utility
Settlement
Coin
project,
is
something
of
an
OG
when
it
comes
to
bringing
cash
on
chain
to
achieve
delivery
versus
payment
(DvP)
for
wholesale
banking
using
shared
ledgers.
“Our
Series
B
funding
round
represents
the
financial
sector’s
desire
for
a
central
bank
money
backed
blockchain-based
settlement
solution
that
bridges
the
gap
between
traditional
finance
(TradFi)
and
decentralized
finance
(DeFi)
in
wholesale
markets,”
Rhomaios
Ram,
CEO
of
Fnality
International
said
in
a
statement.
Goldman
Sachs
head
of
digital
assets
Mathew
McDermott
called
Fnality
a
“key
enabler”
in
the
growing
tokenization
trend.
“Fnality’s
application
of
blockchain
technology
offers
a
resilient
way
for
institutions
to
use
central
bank
funds
across
a
wide
set
of
potential
use
cases,
including
instantaneous,
cross-border,
cross-currency
payments,
collateral
mobility,
and
security
transactions,”
he
said.