The tokenised collateral series.

Cross-border collateral markets still face significant operational friction as manual settlement, delivery constraints and idle assets continue to limit liquidity usage. The challenge is not only process inefficiency, but the difficulty of moving collateral across time zones, currencies and legal frameworks without tying up capital. What is holding back collateral mobility in global markets today? What do recent live repo trades reveal about the practical value of tokenised collateral in cross-border funding and liquidity management?

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The Context

Webinar

Tokenised collateral is moving forward through live market activity.

Over the past year, regulated firms including Bank of America, DRW, Virtu Financial and Tradeweb have completed live repo transactions using real securities and real cash across dollars, euros and sterling on the Canton Network.

In this session, moderated by Barnaby Nelson, senior market practitioners discussed what has already been achieved, what these trades demonstrate in practice, and what will shape the next phase of adoption.

The discussion covered:

the operational case for improved collateral mobility
the cost of fragmented collateral management
the role of 24/7 markets in accelerating settlement change
institutional cash models for on-chain settlement
the roadmap for broader market adoption

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Speakers

Barnaby Nelson

Chief Executive Officer

The ValueExchange

Bud Novin

Head of Payment Systems, Post Trade Solutions

LSEG

Chris Zuehlke

Global Head of Cumberland

DRW

Dan Eckstein

Fixed Income Distribution & Strategy

Virtu

Elisabeth Kirby

Head of Market Structure

Tradeweb

Joel Stainton

Head of Global Collateral Interest & Liquidity, GF&F

Bank of America

Joseph Spiro

Product Director, DTCC Digital Asset Solutions

DTCC

Whitepaper

Stablecoin issuance today

Scale

This scale establishes tokenised collateral as a market reality rather than a future concept, and creates a foundation for broader on-chain repo activity.

Growth in stablecoin issuance is one of the clearest signals that institutional confidence in on-chain financial instruments is building.

Margining issues widespread

Risk

Collateral and margining challenges are not a minority experience — they affect more than half the market.

The prevalence of these issues defines the problem on-chain collateral solutions are being designed to address.

US market savings

Savings

This assumes 0.5 FTE per firm currently dedicated to collateral movements and reconciliations — a conservative and defensible baseline.

The savings case is grounded in current operating cost rather than theoretical efficiency, making the business case directly actionable for firms evaluating impact today.

Collateral mobility remains constrained by manual post-trade processes even though US Treasuries underpin daily liquidity at scale. Recent on-chain repo transactions have provided a more practical demonstration of how tokenised collateral could improve speed, control and operational efficiency across the market.

What changes when Treasuries move on chain in live collateral workflows? How strong is the business case for tokenising collateral if firms want to reduce friction without increasing risk?

The whitepaper examines the July and October 2025 on-chain Treasury repo transactions through detailed debriefs with the parties involved. It looks at what happened in practice, what the transactions signal for collateral and repo markets, and what firms need to consider if tokenised collateral is to move from isolated transactions to broader adoption.

The research, produced in partnership with Digital Asset, highlights:

Stablecoin issuance had reached US dollar (USD) 268 billion in October 2025, underlining the scale of tokenised collateral potential

58% face collateral and margining issues: more than half of firms continue to experience friction in collateral management and margining today

The US market alone could realise USD 54 million in operational savings without sacrificing risk control or income

The paper uses recent live transactions to examine how tokenised collateral could improve repo execution, collateral movement and post-trade efficiency

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Report

Collateral remains idle

Treasury

Pre-funding and over-provisioning continue to trap collateral that could otherwise be mobilised more efficiently.

This is leaving a significant share of collateral idle across time zones, currencies and legal frameworks.

Treasury drag is measurable

Cost

Trapped collateral is no longer just an operational inefficiency — it is a measurable treasury cost.

The cost of idle collateral is already large enough to justify closer attention to mobility and funding design.

Tokenised liquidity ahead

Scale

Recent developments involving European market infrastructures point to a much larger future pool of mobilisable collateral.

Live cross-border repo trades are beginning to show what that future could look like in practice."

Cross-border collateral markets still face significant operational friction as manual settlement, delivery constraints and idle assets continue to limit liquidity usage. The challenge is not only process inefficiency, but the difficulty of moving collateral across time zones, currencies and legal frameworks without tying up capital.

What is holding back collateral mobility in global markets today? What do recent live repo trades reveal about the practical value of tokenised collateral in cross-border funding and liquidity management?

The report examines the current constraints in global collateral markets, the details of recent live tokenised repo transactions and what these developments may mean for broader adoption across North America, the UK and the EU. It also considers the role of tokenised deposits, stablecoins and industry utilities in supporting future scale.

The research, developed in partnership with Digital Asset, highlights:

Up to 25% of collateral remains idle: pre-funding and over-provisioning continue to leave a significant share of collateral unremunerated

USD 1.2 billion in lost nightly interest earnings: trapped collateral is creating a measurable treasury cost across the market

USD 54 million in US operational savings: tokenisation could reduce operational cost materially without weakening risk control

EUR 43 trillion in potential tokenised liquidity: recent developments involving European market infrastructures point to a much larger future pool of mobilisable collateral

Live cross-border repo is already proving the model: recent transactions across the Canton network have demonstrated multi-currency, cross-border and out-of-hours collateral mobility