Fnality Boosted by Latest Funding Round

More evidence that the TradFi world is looking to the digital assets space to help overhaul tis payments and settlements systems and processes comes from news that DLT-based payments system provider Fnailty has secured £77.7 million in Series B funding, led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas.

The firm was initially funded with £45 million from a number of banks alongside Nasdaq Ventures, the latest injection included money from these, in addition to DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura and WisdomTree. Fnality says the latest funding will be utilised to continue progress towards the establishment of a global liquidity management ecosystem that empowers new digital payment models in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenised asset markets.

The company says it is readying for the commencement of initial Sterling Fnality Payment System (FnPS) operations in 2023, subject to regulatory approval and plans to launch additional FnPS for the US dollar.

“Our Series B funding round represents the financial sector’s desire for a central bank money backed blockchain-based settlement solution that bridges the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralised finance (DeFi) in wholesale markets,” says Rhomaios Ram, CEO of Fnality International. “Each Fnality Payment System utilises DLT to provide a 24/7 payment rail with the ability to reduce settlement cycles to real-time, while significantly improving intraday liquidity management and marking significant innovation in the speed, functionality, and resilience of wholesale payments.”

It is just over a year since Fnality completed a successful proof of concept in settling FX swaps with fintech Finteum within 10 seconds of trade and the company says it has also completed “several” PoCs including those for tokenised securities and repo. It adds that each of these evidences the potential inherent in leveraging distributed ledger technology (DLT) to facilitate traditional financial activity and achieve faster, safer and more efficient exchange of value in global wholesale markets.

“As the worlds of TradFi and DeFi converge, DTCC is committed to partnering with industry participants, regulators and other stakeholders to help introduce the standards and governance needed to accelerate ecosystem growth while ensuring the highest levels of market safety and stability,” says Frank La Salla, president, CEO and director at DTCC. “Our investment in Fnality builds upon our agreement to acquire Securrency and will help foster new digital payment rails that will be essential for establishing a robust digital infrastructure, enabling interoperability and driving adoption of digital assets.”

Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, adds, “Fnality’s solution is a key enabler for the digital asset ecosystem and the company is well-positioned to be at the forefront of payment innovations and institutional adoption of DLT. Fnality’s application of blockchain technology offers a resilient way for institutions to use central bank funds across a wide set of potential use cases, including instantaneous, cross-border, cross-currency payments, collateral mobility, and security transactions.”