...Market participants caution that cryptocurrencies are poorly suited to the rigours of trading, while global regulators have concerns over the monitoring of companies that hold digital assets. Traders and executives also point out that crypto is not well adapted to key market functions such as netting — which is used to offset a position in one currency or security with another, to reduce settlement risks....

...On the one hand, central clearing reduces counterparty risks. While many think digital assets always involve delivery versus payment, that’s not the case. Two years ago, crypto expert and former Morgan Stanley banker Caitlin Long predicted that Bitcoin could take down a global systemically important bank. That’s because while Bitcoin might settle in minutes, the bank payment leg does not. In traditional markets, central counterparties take on that risk....

"Creating Financial Market Infrastructure for Digital Assets: Securing Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Trading" explores the key benefits of centralised clearing and why it matters for the future of institutional participation in digital assets.

...ClearToken's infrastructure will aim to mitigate bilateral counterparty risk for settlement, financing, and derivative transactions by centralising clearing, collateral, and risk management arrangements. The company will operate 24/7, facilitating transactions from multiple venues and OTC markets globally, while managing risk in real-time through margin and default fund contributions....

Digital asset clearinghouse ClearToken announced it has received over $10 million in investment from Nomura’s digital asset subsidiary Laser Digital with participation from Flow Traders, GSR, LMAX Digital and Zodia Custody, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures.

... "Clearing houses serve the market better when they are ‘horizontal’, connected across multiple trading venues, as opposed to ‘vertical’, serving just one venue in a silo," the company said in its white paper. "Horizontal models enable participants to trade across multiple venues and provide mechanisms to streamline their clearing and settlement activities in a single place, bringing operational and cost benefits and encouraging wider access to multiple pools of liquidity." ...

..The benefits and market efficiencies achieved through centralised clearing in traditional markets do not need to be forgone by institutions to participate in digital asset systems underpinned by decentralised protocols. By enhancing market structure, ClearToken will support further institutional adoption, helping the digital assets market, currently capitalised at $2.6 trillion, to realise its full potential....

ClearToken is proud to announce Flow Traders, GSR, LMAX Digital and Zodia Custody as new partners and investors, demonstrating the demand for centralised clearing in digital asset markets from institutional participants.

Our White Paper explores the key benefits of centralised clearing and why it matters for the future of institutional participation in digital assets.

Join us on The Startup Sensations Podcast as we dive deep into the world of Digital Assets, Cryptocurrencies, Tokenisation, and the Distributed Ledger with the exceptional Niki Beattie, a leading expert in financial market infrastructure and Chair of ClearToken.

Finery Markets, a leading liquidity and institutional crypto trading infrastructure provider, is proud to announce its participation in ClearToken’s proof of concept (PoC) project. ClearToken, an ambitious initiative to establish a global clearing house for the digital asset age, collaborated with over 60 industry stakeholders from digital assets and traditional finance to demonstrate the viability of centralized clearing for cryptocurrencies sourced from multiple platforms.

ClearToken has issued a press release to announce the successful completion of the Proof of Concept, its first phase towards delivering a CCP for digital assets to the financial market.

Nomura’s digital assets subsidiary has invested in ClearToken, a startup that is launching a clearinghouse for spot digital assets, as institutional investors believe confidence in the infrastructure that underpins the trading process is a key enabler for growth.

Digital assets interbank platform Pure Digital has entered into a proof of concept agreement with ClearToken, a digital assets clearing house project backed by Nomura’s Laser Digital.

...In traditional markets to lubricate trading there are windows of temporary credit, such as the period for a customer to meet margin calls or a two-day window for settlement. It’s not easy to marry the two concepts. “If you go back to basics, clearing on a blockchain doesn’t work. It assumes you have the cash,” said Ben Stephens, chief executive of ClearToken.

Nomura's digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, has invested in ClearToken, a startup prepping a clearing house to the digital asset marketplace. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. ClearToken says it has identified a missing piece in the digital asset market structure and is taking this on by building a central counterparty.

Laser Digital, the digital assets subsidiary of Nomura, has made a strategic investment in ClearToken, a startup aiming to provide the scale and structure required for mass institutional engagement with digital assets.

Nomura's digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, today announces a strategic investment in ClearToken, a startup that will introduce a clearing house to the digital asset marketplace, enabling the scale and structure required for mass institutional engagement with digital assets.