- Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas have led a £77.7 million ($95.09 million) funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based wholesale payments firm.
- The funding round involved major players like Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Euroclear, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, WisdomTree, and Nomura Group.
- Fnality plans to establish a global liquidity management network for innovative digital payment models in wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenized asset markets.
In an exciting development, two financial giants, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, have taken the lead in a new funding round for Fnality, a blockchain-based wholesale payments firm supported by Nomura Group.
According to Reuters, Fnality successfully raised an impressive £77.7 million ($95.09 million) in its second funding round. Noteworthy is the active involvement of major players like Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Euroclear, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, global ETF firm WisdomTree, and Fnality’s existing investor Nomura.
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The funding drive also garnered continued support from initial backers, including Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and UBS. Back in June 2019, UBS and other global banks had invested £55 million ($63.2 million) in Fnality with the aim of launching a blockchain-based trade settlement platform.
Fnality has big plans for the capital infusion, aiming to establish a global liquidity management network for innovative digital payment models in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenized asset markets. The company has expressed that this funding is crucial for the initiation of the Sterling Fnality Payment System in 2023, subject to approval by the Bank of England.
Fnality’s blockchain technology allows institutions to utilize central bank funds across various applications. Mathew McDermott, Goldman’s Global Head of Digital Assets, highlighted some of these applications, including “instantaneous, cross-border, cross-currency payments, collateral mobility, and security transactions.”
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Founded in 2019 as a UBS-led blockchain project, Fnality’s goal is to develop digital versions of major currencies tailored for wholesale payments and transactions involving digital securities. It originated as part of the Utility Settlement Coin (USC) project, which aimed to tokenize fiat currencies on an Ethereum-based blockchain.
The success of Fnality’s latest funding round underscores the ongoing momentum in the blockchain and digital asset space. Other major global banks, like JPMorgan, are also actively exploring blockchain and tokenization. In early November, JPMorgan introduced a new programmable payment feature on its JPM Coin platform, targeting institutional investors.