today HonestyThe blockchain wholesale payments and payments platform has announced a £77.7 million ($95 million) Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. The two major banks are new investors along with DTCC. Existing backers include 13 global banks, including Euroclear, Nomura, Nasdaq and WisdomTree.
Previously known as utility payment coins, wholesale tokenized money is backed by central bank deposits. The bank transfers money from its Bank of England account to Fnality UK’s central bank account, where it is tokenized. It can then be used to settle securities transactions, provide collateral, and a variety of other purposes. Money is tokenized, allowing for instant atomic payments and reducing counterparty risk.
One of the envisioned use cases is cross-currency payments. Fnality plans for the digital pound to be one of several currencies, each of which would require the cooperation of a local central bank. According to the statement, Fnality seems optimistic about the launch of the USD token. He was previously bullish on the euro, but the euro was not mentioned. Industry sources told Ledger Insights that EU authorities have not been very cooperative as they seek large-scale CBDC solutions.
“Fnality’s solutions are a key enabler of the digital asset ecosystem, and the company is well-positioned to be at the forefront of payments innovation and institutional adoption of DLT,” said Goldman Sachs Global Head of Digital Assets. said Matthew McDermott.
UK-based Fnality was designated as a systemically important payments system in August last year. It was scheduled to go on sale in October 2022, but regulatory approvals delayed the process. It aims to launch this year but still needs final approval from the Bank of England.
18 institutions participated in Series B
In 2019, Fnality raised £50m in Series A funding from 14 international banks and Nasdaq. Last year, Euroclear, Nomura and WisdomTree invested.
Credit Suisse is also among the existing backers, and its holding company is likely to have merged with UBS. The only two Series A backers that did not invest were MUFG and Mizuho. This may indicate that we are not very optimistic about the Fnality digital circle. Alternatively, two of Japan’s largest banks are investing elsewhere, such as the Progmat tokenization platform. Meanwhile, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Nomura participated in this round.