In a sign that digital assets are becoming mainstream, institutional foreign exchange post-trade platform Cobalt has expanded into digital assets.
Distributed ledger technology powered Cobalt is backed by Citi, Standard Chartered, IHS Markit and the Singapore Exchange, amongst others. Apart from some of the investors, clients include XTX Markets, Deutsche Bank and Saxo Bank. The platform is also used by Prime Brokers, Liquidity Providers, Retail Brokers and Exchanges. The FX solution, which launched a year ago, is integrated with the MarkitSERV global network.
One of the key benefits of Cobalt’s solution is a shared ledger, so there’s a single source of truth about a trade. Another is a credit management facility allowing dynamic allocation of credit across clients and counterparties.
Cobalt noted that digital assets are now becoming a part of currency trading and the recent announcement by the US Comptroller (OCC) that banks can custody digital assets has accelerated matters. Yesterday the OCC also said that banks can hold deposits for stablecoins and stablecoins fit rather neatly with foreign exchange.
“Participants today can no longer ignore the position of digital assets in the market and those who do are in danger of missing out on sizeable trading opportunities due to the 24/7 nature of the market,” said Adrian Patten, Chairman and Co-founder of Cobalt. “Major exchanges have started to translate this to the FX market, with some offering trading over the weekends. 24/7 operability has always been a priority to Cobalt.”
The company is already live with digital assets, having connected to the leading digital exchanges and offers full credit and ledger services for both fiat currencies and digital assets.
