Yesterday, UK-based blockchain firm Fnality announced it joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA). As a member of the EEA, Fnality will collaborate with other participants to develop best practices, open standards and open-source architectures for enterprise Ethereum applications.
The company envisages that the Fnality Payment System could form the settlement layer for new tokenized assets and marketplaces. The company was borne out of the institutional digital currency project, the ‘Utility Settlement Coin’ (USC).
UBS initiated the USC project in conjunction with UK-based blockchain developer Clearmatics, which is the technology partner of Fnality. The idea was to develop an institutional digital currency for banks which can be used for instant settlement, or Delivery versus Payment, without the need for an intermediary like a central counterparty or a clearinghouse.
Clearmatics developed the USC platform using the Ethereum blockchain. Last year, the company raised £50 million ($63 million) in a Series A.
Fnality’s 15 shareholders mainly comprise banking institutions, namely Banco Santander, Bank of New York Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, ING, KBC Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Group, Nasdaq, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, State Street Corporation and UBS.
The company aims to develop the USC initially backed by five currencies Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pounds, Japanese Yen and US Dollars. The money underpinning the tokens will be held at central banks. The ultimate goal is to create a network of decentralized Financial Market Infrastructures (dFMI).
“Fnality is all about enabling settlement in tomorrow’s financial market infrastructure,” said Adam Clarke, CTO of Fnality. “Settlement requires all the parties involved to collaborate and cooperate; the EEA’s role is an essential part of that process and we are excited to work with the EEA and the other members to maximize the value of the new technology across the community.”
Meanwhile, the EEA is a standards body driven by its large member base of global businesses. Some high-profile members include Standard Chartered, Banco Santander, Microsoft, IBM and EY. Ledger Insights has previously reported on a few projects undertaken by the EEA including the Token Taxonomy Initiative.
