The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has made an undisclosed minority investment in EquiLend, a technology, data, and analytics solutions provider for the securities finance industry, and BNY along with eight other financial institutions making strategic investments will advise EquiLend on further innovation and efficiency in securities finance transactions. BNY will also be among… Read More >>
Trump Team & Senate Bill End Hopes for a U.S. CBDC
A central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the U.S. will not be developed and issued by the Federal Reserve any time soon and it may be a long time before the U.S. federal government seriously considers the viability of a CBDC. The halt is the result of an executive order about digital assets, issued by… Read More >>
Ondo Finance Previews Tokenization Platform
Ondo Finance, a maker of blockchain-based financial infrastructure offerings, unveiled a tokenization platform, dubbed Ondo Global Markets, for publicly-traded securities, and Ondo Chain, a new Layer 1 blockchain for “institutional-grade, on-chain financial markets,” officials say. The offerings to come were announced on Feb. 6 at the Ondo Summit in New York City, which also included… Read More >>
DTCC Revamps & Renames Securrency Suite as ComposerX
Officials at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) say that they are doing their part to accelerate digital asset adoption “throughout the financial ecosystem” with the release of ComposerX, formerly the Securrency product suite, intended to streamline token creation and settlement. In October 2023, the DTCC acquired the tokenization infrastructure company Securrency Inc., then… Read More >>
Trump’s Team Pushes Hard for Crypto Regulatory Overhaul
The new Trump administration’s crypto- and digital asset train is moving full speed ahead to help Trump deliver on a campaign promise to make the USA the “crypto capital of the planet.” The impact on the securities industry and operations could be profound as the Trump team wants to fast-track innovation, new rules, guardrails, and… Read More >>
A Roundup of Predictions for 2025
I’m a little late to the predictions party but please indulge me. This is a completely unscientific, random, and unusual set of predictions for this year and maybe a little beyond. I have scanned the usual suspects and unorthodox places and presented a variety of points of view while adding a few of my own…. Read More >>
Singapore Bank Scores a First via Tokenized Bonds
A bank in Singapore, OCBC, has scored a first with the launch of bespoke tokenized bonds to corporate accredited investors, a major step forward for Singapore’s efforts to promote the usage of tokenized assets. “The tokenized bonds, which reference investment grade bonds, are structured based on the client’s desired tenor and yield. They are then… Read More >>
Geopolitical Woes Are Top Systemic Risk Concerns: Survey
A little more than half of survey respondents — 55 percent — say that they “believe there is high or very high chance” that there will be “a high-impact systemic event” in 2025, and 84 percent express concern that a geopolitical event could impact financial services during the coming year. These findings are from the… Read More >>
SIFMA’s DLT Experiment Could Overhaul Ops
A groundbreaking proof-of-concept initiative led by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and involving major financial services firms and top financial technology providers has shown the “potential advantages of implementing a shared ledger system” for post-trade operations that could spur “innovation in securities settlement processes” via improved operational efficiency, real-time liquidity access, and… Read More >>
CFTC Mulls Ops Changes for Non-Cash Collateral
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is mulling recommendations that would not need to become rules but would lead to operational changes governing the use of non-cash collateral for margin requirements and might pave the way for more clarity in the regulation of digital assets for U.S. markets. The CFTC permits using non-cash assets as… Read More >>
