CT Settle | ClearToken

The Solution for Efficient, Risk-free Settlement

Through CT Settle, ClearToken brings regulated settlement solutions for cryptoassets, stablecoins and fiat currencies to digital asset markets, delivering:

a venue agnostic non-custodial solution
24/7 atomic netted DvP settlement
horizontal market neutral infrastructure
eliminated counterparty settlement risk
fiat and digital assets always remaining in the users possession

Key Features

A single network for settlement across venues, counterparties, and asset types
Multilateral netting that dramatically reduces the number and size of required transfers
Conditional, simultaneous exchange (DvP) that prevents settlement failure and reinforces trust
Independent custody which separates asset holding from trading venues, ensuring investor protection
Round-the-clock settlement cycles which align with the 24/7 nature of digital asset markets
Efficient on- and off-ramp creation and redemption of stablecoins

Core Principles

CT Settle unites netting and DvP to establish a powerful and predictable settlement process that resolves today’s pain points and unlocks new efficiencies.

CT Settle is built on four key principles:

Netting:

Trades are netted across venues and participants to reduce the number and value of required transfers.
Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP):

Assets and cash move simultaneously, eliminating settlement risk.
Custodial Choice:

Participants can settle from accounts held at third-party custodians and banks.
Operational Resilience:

Continuous monitoring and fallback protocols ensure robust execution.

Learn more about settlement in our explainer here.

CT Settle: Bringing Net DvP Settlement to Digital Assets

Launching in December 2025

CT Settle is ClearToken’s digital settlement service, designed to bring scalable, regulated settlement to digital asset markets.

In conventional markets, intermediaries ensure the simultaneous exchange of assets and cash between buyers and sellers and absorb counterparty and settlement risk.

ClearToken is addressing this market need with CT Settle, the specialist DvP net settlement service purpose-built for the needs of digital assets.

CT Settle introduces trusted intermediation to digital asset markets. By replacing fragmented, bilateral processes with simultaneous DvP exchange, we eliminate FoP risk and bring FCA-regulated safety to settlement. The UK’s FCA represents the globally recognised gold standard in financial services regulation and is implementing a comprehensive package of measures to regulate cryptoassets and stablecoins in a similar manner to traditional securities and payments.

ClearToken embeds traditional financial market infrastructure into digital asset settlement, with key benefits including:

Up to 98% capital reduction

Through multilateral netting
Zero settlement risk

With true Delivery vs Payment
Eliminate risk exposure on cash leg

Seamless on- and off-ramping of fiat
Reduce prefunding requirements

Keep assets at your chosen custodian instead
One settlement for all venues

Consolidated across your entire portfolio
24/7 trade acceptance

With defined settlement cycles

CT Settle consolidates offsetting obligations across participants, venues, and clearing flows into a single net obligation per settlement cycle, freeing up capital, reducing operational burden, and enabling Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) settlement with confidence.

We calculate net obligations across all your trades, reducing them to a single transfer, per asset. Assets and cash move simultaneously through the custody network, eliminating settlement risk entirely. Combined with DvP, this ensures no party delivers without receiving.

Visit Introduction to Settlement for a deeper dive into the vital role net DvP (delivery vs payment) settlement plays in capital markets, and how it works.

Reshaping Settlement for Digital Assets

Settlement is the final and critical step in any transaction: the moment that value moves and ownership is transferred.

In today’s digital asset landscape, transactions typically settle bilaterally on a gross basis. This means that settlement is still characterised by gross funding, manual reconciliation, and siloed counterparty arrangements.

This creates unnecessary friction, high operational costs, and increased risk; all of which deter institutional participation and hold back market growth:

Massive capital inefficiency

Currently most venues require significant prefunding, often 100%+
Settlement risk

Free-of-payment transfers force one party to deliver first, creating risk of receiving nothing in return
Operational burden

Managing individual settlements across multiple venues
Fragmented processes

Different rules and timelines for each counterparty

Whether trading on exchange or OTC, efficient and predictable settlement guarded from counterparty risk is essential for market confidence and scalability.

The Fundamentals

Solving Key Market Problems

The Situation

Gross settlement requires every transaction to be settled in full: both sides, in full cash or assets, regardless of what other trades offset it. This locks up liquidity, creates a heavy operational burden, and increases costs with every additional trade.
In today’s digital asset markets, settlement is often arranged bilaterally: firm by firm, venue by venue. Each relationship must be separately negotiated, monitored, and maintained, creating a tangled web of settlement obligations and operational dependencies.

The Problem

Relying on gross settlement as volumes scale is not only inefficient, it’s unsustainable.
The more activity increases, the more liquidity is trapped, the more cash must be moved, and the more operational risk enters the system.
Market makers run out of balance sheet; they cannot make prices for clients because they simply do not have the capacity.
Buy-side participants cannot pre-fund counterparties with client money; their choices to find best execution for their clients are restricted.
As the number of trading partners increases, so does the complexity and manual processes. Bilateral settlement introduces inconsistent processes and timing mismatches, and a lack of central visibility.
This fragmentation creates delays, increases reconciliation workloads, and heightens systemic risk — all of which limit a firm’s ability to scale efficiently in an increasingly interconnected market.

The Solution

CT Settle consolidates offsetting obligations across participants, venues, and clearing flows into a single net obligation per cycle.
This drastically reduces the number and value of required transfers, which frees up cash, lowers operational pressure, and makes secure, scalable settlement possible for digital assets.

The Situation

Many digital asset venues require full prefunding: firms must deposit 100% of the cash or assets before they can trade.
This ties up capital unnecessarily, limiting the ability to react to market opportunities or use funds productively elsewhere.

The Problem

Prefunding fragments liquidity across venues and leads to inefficient use of capital. A prepayment model cannot support institutional growth and adoption.

The Solution

ClearToken reintroduces capital efficiency to digital assets by eliminating the need for prefunding.
Through our settlement service, participants settle only net obligations at predefined intervals, providing the credibility and control required to safely support margin trading and unlock capital.

The Situation

Digital asset trading remains fragmented across a wide range of venues, each with their own processes, rules, and post-trade infrastructure.
Participants must manage different connections, settlement timelines, and operational risks for each venue; often with little standardisation.

The Problem

This fragmentation leads to duplicated effort, inconsistent settlement outcomes, and liquidity trapped in isolated pools.
Firms face higher costs, more reconciliation work, and limited visibility across their trading activity. As participation grows, these silos create friction and prevent markets from scaling efficiently and securely.

The Solution

ClearToken breaks down these barriers by providing a unified settlement layer that connects participants across multiple venues and trading models.
This horizontal integration gives participants broader reach with less complexity, enabling liquidity to flow more freely and markets to grow without fragmentation.

The Situation

Many digital asset platforms bundle custody with trading: assets are held directly by exchanges, with limited transparency and control for the end user.
When exchanges act as both custodian and trading venue, participants are exposed to the operational and solvency risk of that venue.

The Problem

Without independent control over where and how assets are held, market participants (particularly institutions) face unacceptable levels of counterparty and custody risk.
This model concentrates risk and has already led to high-profile failures where customer assets were misused, lost, or frozen.

The Solution

ClearToken separates custody from execution and settlement. Participants retain the right to choose a regulated custodian, with assets held under segregated beneficial title.
Assets and cash are only moved when both sides of the trade are ready, ensuring no party receives without delivering.

What Can Be Settled

CT Settle supports the settlement for major cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and fiat currencies and are adding instruments continuously.

Regulatory Compliance

ClearToken Depository Limited (‘ClearToken Depository’) is authorised by the FCA to operate CT Settle. This includes:

Authorisation to provide payment services in accordance with the Payment Services Regulations 2017
Registration as a cryptoasset service provider in accordance with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.

ClearToken will seek relevant regulatory status in every jurisdiction in which it operates and have strict requirements for participation to ensure that it is a trusted partner in the financial marketplace.

Contact

Connect with our Partnerships team to learn how CT Settle and ClearToken’s settlement network can support your firm’s digital asset trading.

This service is provided by ClearToken Depository Limited, which is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number 1016940 and Firm Reference Number 1017352).