May 2026 Update:
Awards & Analysis

The team is working hard to progress our Central Counterparty (CCP) application with the Bank of England, with a key appointment in Fernando Cerezetti as CCP Chief Risk Officer. So it was a great pleasure for us all to celebrate having received a host of recent prestigious award wins and industry recognition (see below), with a special accolade for Financial News’ Rising Star, Akash Sharma, our Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs. We are grateful to have such strong validation of our approach, progress and team from judges and peers.

Recently, I gave a keynote speech "The Trust Machine: Britain's Next Piece of Financial Infrastructure" at the Digital Commonwealth’s CONV3RGENCE event, in which I highlighted the UK’s enviable position in having all the tools it needs and a wealth of possibilities, but warned that the industry, UK government and regulators need to redouble efforts to stay ahead and deliver on these opportunities, or risk being surpassed by other regions.

As such, we have been encouraged by the latest moves by the FCA (commentary below) and the UK Government’s appointment of a Wholesale Digital Assets Champion. Chris Wollard will lead the Government’s work to deliver a more efficient and competitive financial sector, and we look forward to collaborating with him.

Finally, we are proud to support City Week’s Future of Digital Assets Summit on 19th May as a Bronze sponsor, where I will be joining the “Building the Tokenized Financial System: Infrastructure, Interoperability, Cross-Chain Standards, 24/7 Global Trading and Atomic Settlement” panel. We look forward to seeing you there!

As ever, thank you for your ongoing support of ClearToken and our mission to deliver the secure, compliant infrastructure necessary for 24/7 financial markets, and enjoy our full update below.

Ben

In this edition:

Cerezetti Appointed as CCP Chief Risk Officer

In April, Fernando Cerezetti joined us as Chief Risk Officer of our subsidiary, ClearToken CCP Limited.

Fernando will work closely with senior leadership across the ClearToken Group as we progress our application with the Bank of England to become an authorised Central Counterparty (CCP). Leading the development and oversight of the CCP’s risk management framework, he will play a central role in ensuring that the risk infrastructure meets the rigorous standards expected under UK EMIR and the Bank’s supervisory framework.

Fernando brings over two decades of highly relevant experience and specialist expertise to the company, having most recently served as Head of Model Risk Management, Data and Governance for ICE Clear Europe.

A welcome addition to the team, Fernando recently presented his latest academic research at the World Federation of Exchanges' WFE Clear 2026 Conference, and has been featured in the press:

Celebrating ClearToken's Achievements

We are incredibly proud of the significant industry recognition ClearToken has received in the last few weeks:

• Digital Commonwealth Awards 2026:
  Winner of the Best Payments and Settlement Innovation.

• UK FinTech Awards:
  Winners of both the Startup of the Year and the Digital Assets Award.

• TabbFORUM NOVA Awards 2026:
  Included in the ‘10 Innovators to Watch’ category.

• Harrington Starr’s “Financial Technologist”:
  One of the Top 15 Most Nominated Companies in the Influence List 2026.

Congratulations to Rising Star, Akash Sharma

Akash Sharma, our Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs, has been honoured in the Financial News’ prestigious Rising Stars of European Finance for 2026.

We are immensely proud of his achievement and thank Akash for his successful efforts in steering ClearToken towards becoming the first regulated financial market infrastructure for digital assets in the UK.

Our Perspective: Recent FCA Announcements

FCA 2026 Regulatory Priorities

In Q1 2026, the FCA published its 2026 Regulatory Priorities. The Payments Report explicitly names stablecoins and tokenised deposits as key technologies shaping the payments sector. The FCA is clear that firms must build for these assets, transitioning from exploratory work into a finalised regulatory regime. The new Safeguarding Supplementary Regime also sets stricter standards for holding customer funds.

ClearToken was built on the principle of dedicated segregated structures, meaning our practices already align closely with these tighter rules. We have developed our CT Settle and CT Pay services specifically to provide the robust clearing and settlement rails required for this evolving environment.

FCA Cryptoasset Perimeter Consultation

On 15 April, the FCA published CP26/13 to define the cryptoasset perimeter. This approach ensures that the regulatory treatment of an asset depends on its specific function and risk profile rather than the technology used to issue it.

We strongly support this consultation and its 'substance-over-form' principle, which ensures that terminology does not determine regulatory status. Such clarity is vital ahead of the October 2027 implementation timeline, as it provides the certainty needed for broader institutional participation.

FCA Fund Tokenisation Guidance

To further support sector growth, the FCA set out new guidance and rules on 30 April to encourage innovation in fund tokenisation. This framework introduces an optional Direct to Fund (D2F) model, making fund dealing more efficient by allowing investors to deal directly with both traditional and tokenised funds.

We welcome the FCA’s approach as a step in the right direction, with it appearing to rely on financial market infrastructure providers to deliver the rails supporting tokenisation. This focus on infrastructure aligns with our mission to establish settlement finality as the bedrock upon which the digital assets market is built.

Meet Us

• City Week UK, 19th May, London:
  ClearToken is proud to support The Future of Digital Assets Summit as a Bronze sponsor. See Ben speak at 11:25 on the panel: “Building the Tokenized Financial System: Infrastructure, Interoperability, Cross-Chain Standards, 24/7 Global Trading and Atomic Settlement”.

• Cosegic’s “Crypto, Compliance and Corkage” Event, 4th June, London:
  At this informal evening, Claire Conby, Depository Head of Compliance and MLRO, will join the “Crypto Authorisation and the Upcoming Fintech Revolution” panel, exploring how firms can prepare for FCA authorisation under FSMA, key areas of regulatory uncertainty, the role of stablecoin payments, and how the UK’s approach compares globally.

Recent Events

We have been very active at various key industry events including FIA Boca, FT Live Digital Assets Summit, The Agora by Kaiko and the Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS 2026), noting that conversations have shifted from exploring the possibilities to being actively concerned with the need for digital asset FMI.

Highlights include:

• Digital Commonwealth’s CONV3RGENCE: In addition to his keynote, Ben was a panelist on'Stablecoin Wars: Banks vs Protocols: Who Owns the Future of Money?', discussing the competition between traditional banking and decentralised protocols in defining the next era of currency.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) Spring Meetings: Niki Beattie, our Chair, was in Washington D.C. for the Spring Meetings, the only global gathering of its kind. Read her reflections on LinkedIn here.

• WFEClear 2026 Conference: Fernando presented his latest academic research regarding the development of more precise risk metrics for complex portfolios, at the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)’s flagship event in Toronto.

• Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) Conference: Mark Williamson, our Chief Commercial Officer, gave the keynote, speaking about how tokenisation, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and new forms of value exchange could reshape economies.

• Investment Management Taskforce: Mark took part in discussions about the unification of traditional finance and digital assets.

• UK AML / CTF & Financial Crime Seminar: Claire Conby attended the AMLP (The Association of Financial Crime Prevention Professionals) Forum's annual event to discuss topics including the challenges of tackling financial crime and fraud across crypto platforms and payment systems and next level AI for financial crime defences.

• Academic Roundtable: We were also delighted to host our first academic roundtable, welcoming a cohort of academics with expertise in FinTech, Digital Assets, Economics and Data to present ClearToken and our aspirations, leading to an open discussion and feedback.

Thank You

Thank you for your continued support of ClearToken. We look forward to sharing further updates on our progress towards delivering the market’s first post-trade infrastructure for digital assets.

Benjamin Santos-Stephens
CEO

ben@cleartoken.io