Digital Asset, in collaboration with a consortium of leading financial institutions, announced the successful completion of a groundbreaking transaction on the Canton Network, marking a first in enabling real-time, fully on-chain financing of U.S. Treasuries (UST) against USDC. The transaction, executed on Tradeweb, surpasses prior on-chain repo activities by providing near-instant, atomic settlement on a public blockchain, outside of traditional market hours, on weekends.

Most significantly, this live transaction was conducted entirely on-chain, with USDC serving as the cash leg and on-chain UST as collateral, providing true 24/7 liquidity and eliminating the limitations of off-ledger cash and market-hour restrictions seen in legacy implementations– all of which is critical to creating a real, always-available, interoperable capital markets infrastructure.

Members of the working group focused on advancing on-chain initiatives include: Bank of America, Circle, Citadel, Cumberland DRW, Digital Asset, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Hidden Road, Societe Generale, Tradeweb, and Virtu Financial.

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. By unlocking real-time financing and 24/7 collateral mobility, it enhances utility and drives the evolution of markets toward greater efficiency and accessibility. In addition, it will combine the strengths of traditional and crypto markets, pairing institutional trust and scale with the flexibility and programmability of DeFi. The Canton Network’s Global Collateral Network will provide the foundation for this unified market structure, enabling seamless movement of real-world assets across a new global digital financial system.

Key Highlights of the Transaction:

• On Chain Real-World Assets (RWAs): Prime brokers held client UST in custodied accounts at a DTCC subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC), and enabled their clients to create on-chain UST on the Canton Network, unlocking their utility as freely transferable collateral
• Native On-Chain Stablecoin Liquidity: USDC was minted and redeemed on the Canton Network specifically to demonstrate this use case while supporting near-instant liquidity and atomic settlement
• Round-the-Clock Financing: The transaction occurred on a Saturday, demonstrating the ability to access financing outside traditional global settlement windows
• Industry Collaboration Beyond Individual Trades: This transaction represents a foundational activation for the broader Canton Network Working Group, encompassing traditional financial institutions and digital asset market participants

Market participants were able to successfully leverage Tradeweb’s leading execution capabilities to complete this pioneering transaction, demonstrating access to the deep liquidity, operational efficiency, and seamless integration that is necessary to complete a fully on-chain U.S. Treasury repo trade in real time. Institutional investors were able to access automated financing outside of market hours, setting a new industry standard for 24/7 global trading access. The trade, which was conducted entirely on-chain with atomic settlement, was executed without disclosing individual role allocations to respect confidentiality and highlight the collective contribution of multiple members of the broader working group. Additional transactions are targeted for later this year.

“The successful completion of this transaction marks a significant step toward 24/7 trading in these markets. Tradeweb’s deep U.S. Treasury liquidity and electronic execution capabilities, combined with the Canton Network’s interoperable and decentralized framework, enabled this trade to happen outside of traditional settlement windows. It’s an industry first and reflects the power of collaboration in building a more connected, resilient, and always-on global capital market ecosystem,” said Justin Peterson, Chief Technology Officer, Tradeweb.

Working group participants reinforced their collective commitment to driving digital transformation in financial markets:

“This transaction marks a significant advancement in the evolution of capital markets infrastructure. The successful use of tokenized U.S. Treasuries and on-chain settlement via USDC underscores the power of collaborative innovation across traditional and digital financial institutions,” said Kash Razzaghi, Chief Business Officer at Circle.

“We’re done talking theory when it comes to blockchain for capital markets — over a weekend, real-time, on-chain financing of tokenized US treasuries against USDC has been executed. This lays the foundation for how blockchain is unlocking 24/7 funding,” said Chris Zuehlke, Partner at DRW and Global Co-Head of Cumberland. “As a TradFi firm that bet on blockchain over a decade ago, participating in this milestone proof case is worth celebrating. We applaud the work of everyone involved, and we’re excited to collaborate with the broader financial ecosystem to scale these capabilities.”

“This milestone underscores DTCC’s commitment to advancing infrastructure that meets the market and the moment,” stated Brian Steele, Managing Director, President, Clearing & Securities Services at DTCC. “We will continue to drive forward solutions that support evolving client needs with a scalable, future-focused, and digital-first approach.”

“This first live transaction is a foundational step in building the Global Collateral Network on the Canton Network, highlighting its ability to respect the confidentiality of individual institutions while transacting on a public blockchain,” said Kelly Mathieson, Chief Business Development Officer at Digital Asset. “It demonstrates how market participants can unlock real-time collateral mobility and round-the-clock financing using assets on chain, which lays the groundwork for a fundamentally more efficient and accessible global financial system.”

“This landmark transaction represents a giant leap forward in how market participants can maximize their collateral utility. Digital Assets has demonstrated that real-time, 24/7 financing is within reach on the Canton Network,” said Dan Eckstein, Head of Rates Sales at Virtu Financial.

“Distributed ledger technology holds valuable potential to modernize financial operations. We are excited to collaborate in this initiative to explore new applications of blockchain within traditional finance for the benefit of our institutional clients,” said Sonali Theisen, Global Head of FICC E-Trading and Markets Strategic Investments at Bank of America.

Source: Canton Network