Deutsche Börse Group’s Eurex Clearing has launched its distributed ledger technology (DLT)-facilitated collateral mobilization service and Digital Asset, the enterprise blockchain provider, completed the first real-time, fully on-chain financing of U.S. treasuries.

On 29 July 2025 Eurex Clearing said it had become the first clearinghouse globally to launch a DLT-enabled collateral mobilization service. In the first transaction, J.P. Morgan mobilized securities collateral for its client, Dutch pension fund investor PGGM, from another custody location to Clearstream Banking S.A. for use as margin collateral at Eurex Clearing. The underlying technology is provided by HQLAx, which provides DLT solutions for collateral management.

Efthimia Kefalea, head of derivatives clearing development at Eurex, told Markets Media that one of the characteristics of this service is that HQLAx on-ramps assets onto the ledger without tokenizing them. Therefore, the assets are digitally represented on the blockchain but the legal and regulatory nature of the underlying assets remains unchanged.

She explains that HQLAx engages with Clearstream International as the Trusted Third Party (TTP) of the service. The TTP is the single source of truth keeping the books and records of the  collateral on the ledger, bringing transparency about the ownership of collateral which everyone can see. The collateral assets reach the account of JP Morgan at Clearstream Banking Luxembourg and then are posted to Eurex Clearing for PGGM.

“Our clients will be able to mobilize collateral from any custodian,” Kefalea added. “Collateral mobilization from one custodian to another takes place without physically moving the assets.”

Kefalea said the new technology “elegantly” addresses a well-known and long-standing issue of a fragmented collateral landscape due to the lack of direct connections between all custodians, central securities depositories (CSDs) and  international central securities depositories. In Europe there are more than 30 CSDs, so it is too expensive and inefficient to build all these bilateral links.

“In the traditional world where there is no direct link between a CSD and a custodian, it might take hours or sometimes days to move collateral,” she said. “Now with the HQLAx service this takes minutes.”

She added that a big benefit for clients is that the interaction with a central counterparty clearinghouse (CCP) does not change. “They use the same processes at the CCP level as for margin collateral that has been mobilized through legacy methods,” said Kefalea.

Clients of Eurex clearing members do not need to become clients of HQLAx as the clearing member interacts with the DLT platform. Clearing members are required to complete the necessary legal arrangements with HQLAx,  and formally accept the provisions outlined in their rulebook.

Danny Hand, prime financial services product development at J.P. Morgan, said in a statement that the transaction demonstrates the bank’s belief in the transformative power of DLT for collateral management across the industry. Hand said: “This solution has the potential to bring significant benefits to our clients, J.P. Morgan, and the market as it continues to evolve.”

The service is already part of Eurex Clearing’s product spectrum and offering and J.P. Morgan and PGGM are using it as business as usual, according to Kefalea. She added: “As a CCP we are uniquely positioned to seamlessly migrate traditional with digital transactions into one ecosystem and apply the same procedures and  risk framework.”

Several buy-side clients and clearing members have expressed interest in using this type of service and have requested additional information.

“As the flexibility and mobility of collateral become increasingly critical to our clients, we believe this solution represents a highly valuable and strategic tool,” said Kefalea.

Venture capital firm a16zcrypto said in a blog that traditional financial incumbents are rediscovering blockchains as tools for transparent, secure value transfer that can future-proof TradFi institutions and unlock new sources of growth.

“Executive teams are asking a new question: not if, or when, but how now to make blockchains matter to their business,” said the blog. “That question is driving a wave of exploration, resource allocation, and organizational realignment.”

a16zcrypto highlighted that collateral mobility is one of the “great opportunities” and utility on the institutional/back office side of banks alongside tokenized deposits and reevaluating settlement infrastructure. Improved collateral mobility allows banks to become more capital efficient, access broader pools of liquidity and compete more aggressively in capital markets with a leaner balance sheet.

“The DTCC recently launched their Smart NAV pilot, aimed at modernizing collateral mobility through tokenizing Net Asset Value data,” added a16zcrypto. “The pilot showcased how collateral can behave more like liquid, programmable money — not just an operational upgrade for banks but an upgrade that can support their broader strategy.”

Last year Eurex Clearing took part in the European Central Bank’s exploratory work last year on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement solutions. Kefalea said it is essential that digital infrastructure does not impose new risks in the ecosystem, and having a central bank money digital solution is essential for the market.

“The ECB has announced its plans to enable settlement of DLT transactions in central bank money by linking DLT platforms with TARGET Services, with a pilot phase planned by the end of Q3 2026,” she added.

Eurex Clearing is also participating in this evolving landscape by joining international initiatives such as Project Agorá led by the Bank for International Settlements, which aims to enhance cross-border payments through tokenization and public-private collaboration.

On-chain U.S. Treasuries financing

On 12 August 2025 Digital Asset, in collaboration with a consortium of financial institutions, said it had completed the first real-time, fully on-chain financing of U.S. Treasuries against Circle’s stablecoin, USDC, on its Canton Network. Members of the working group focused on advancing on-chain initiatives include traditional financial institutions and digital asset market participants: Bank of America, Circle, Citadel Securities, Cumberland DRW, Digital Asset, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Hidden Road, Société Générale, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial.

The transaction was executed on Tradeweb and Digital Asset said it surpasses prior on-chain repo activities by providing near-instant, atomic settlement on a public blockchain, outside of traditional market hours, as it took place on a Saturday. On-chain U.S. treasuries acted as collateral and USDC acted as the cash leg, removing the need to move off chain and use fiat US dollars, where payments  are only possible during standard banking hours.

Digital Asset said: “This milestone marks a foundational step towards building capital markets where high-quality liquid assets, such as UST, are available and usable at all times, regardless of traditional market hours or legacy settlement constraints.”

Prime brokers held client U.S. treasuries in custodied accounts at a DTCC subsidiary, which allowed their clients to create on-chain U.S. treasuries  on the Canton Network, unlocking their utility as freely transferable collateral. USDC was minted and redeemed on the Canton Network to demonstrate this use case while supporting near-instant liquidity and atomic settlement.

Chris Zuehlke, partner at market maker DRW and global co-head of Cumberland, said in a statement: “We’re done talking theory when it comes to blockchain for capital markets — over a weekend, real-time, on-chain financing of tokenized U.S. Treasuries against USDC has been executed. This lays the foundation for how blockchain is unlocking 24/7 funding.”

Additional transactions are targeted for later this year.