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.
In an announcement, ClearToken revealed a rough timeline for when it plans to start offering services in 2025-2026 depending on when the firm receives regulatory approval.
The purpose of a clearinghouse in the digital assets space is to validate and finalize transactions, ensuring that both the buyer and the seller honour their contractual obligations and that a settlement of trade is cleared — a clearing house is placed between trade execution and settlement
ClearToken said it plans to be fully regulated in the UK and has initiated the process of obtaining clearing house recognition from the Bank of England, intending to launch central counterparty clearing house (CCP) services in 12-18 months.
In the meantime, ClearToken said it intends to launch preliminary settlement services in 2024, but this is subject to approval from the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England.
“We are delighted with the institutional reception to ClearToken from both established institutional investors, who play a significant role in traditional markets, as well as digital asset pioneers, all of whom have understood the value which ClearToken can bring to digital asset markets,” said Benjamin Santos-Stephens, CEO of ClearToken in a press release.
Nomura’s Digital Asset Plans
In 2023, Japan’s largest investment bank, Nomura, unveiled its Bitcoin Adoption Fund through its crypto subsidiary, Laser Digital. The firm announced it would use Koimanu, an entity established in 2018 by Nomura, Ledger, and Coinshares, to custody the fund’s assets.
Laser Digital and Komainu obtained operating licenses from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), clearing the path to offer various digital asset trading services and investment products.
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