Swiss-founded digital asset security firm Metaco announced a partnership with IHS Markit for post trade solutions. Metaco was originally known for its digital asset custody solution but has since expanded its offering to include a multi-provider orchestration system, Metaco Harmonize. By integrating Harmonize with IHS Markit’s Securities Processing platform, the aim is to provide a multi-asset post-trade platform for financial institutions.
Union Bank of Philippines recently announced it had adopted the Metaco Harmonize solution. The digital asset startup is backed by Standard Chartered, amongst other high profile firms. It boasts multiple banks as clients, including BBVA, DBS Bank and Northern Trust, which has a digital asset custody joint venture with StanChart, Zodia.
Metaco Harmonize is an umbrella product that includes a custody solution that allows for sub-custodians, and trading cryptocurrencies, digital assets and DeFi. It also incorporates the ability to issue and manage tokens. The key is supporting multiple liquidity providers, self-custody providers and custodians.
“IHS Markit’s Integrated Message Bridge (IMB) provides the gateway between the movement of traditional and digital assets, while leveraging the industry standard messaging protocols inherent within our post-trade securities platform,” said Ankush Zutshi, IHS Markit VP corporate actions and securities processing.
Compared to competitors, Metaco has raised a relatively small sum of $20 million, with a $17 million Series A in July 2020. In contrast, Fireblocks has raised $889 million, including a $400 million Series E at an $8 billion valuation in December 2021. The same month, Anchorage announced a $350 million Series D led by KKR, bringing total funds raised to $487 million.
Meanwhile, a year ago, IHS Markit created a post-trade joint venture, OSTTRA, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The merger between IHS Markit and S&P Global is expected to complete this quarter.
