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Weekly Briefing
DTCC Announces Pilot on Canton Network Following SEC No Action Letter
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) received a No Action Letter from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The relief allows DTCC to run a three-year pilot of a blockchain-based post-trade layer, while keeping its core clearing, settlement, and risk-management infrastructure firmly offchain.
EU Commission Proposes Major Overhaul of Pilot Regime in Move Toward DLT-Based Markets
Last week, the European Commission proposed a set of measures designed to lay the foundations for a future European capital market built on blockchain. At its core is a major overhaul of the Pilot Regime, the EU framework that lets financial institutions trade and settle tokenized securities under regulatory supervision.
BNP Paribas Joins European Stablecoin Consortium Qivalis
On Tuesday, the euro stablecoin consortium held its first press conference, unveiling its name, Qivalis, and introducing its management team. The group, originally formed by nine banks including ING, UniCredit and DekaBank, also announced a major addition: BNP Paribas, Europe’s largest bank, will become its tenth member.
Société Générale Enters U.S. Market With First Tokenized Bond Issuance
Société Générale carried out its first issuance of a tokenized U.S. bond via its blockchain subsidiary SG-Forge. The move underscores the bank’s broader global push into asset tokenization, as well as its growing strategic focus on the U.S. market.
Exclusive: ECB Weighs Building Its Own Ledger For CBDC as Market Solutions Fall Short
For several months, the ECB and the Eurosystem have been assessing which technological foundations could support a potential wholesale CBDC while preserving monetary sovereignty. According to internal notes reviewed by Blockstories, progress on market-led options has been limited, leading the ECB to increasingly examine the possibility of providing its own infrastructure rather than relying exclusively on private-sector solutions.
BoE Proposes Stablecoin Framework with Holding Caps and Central Bank Access
On Monday, the Bank of England (BoE) published a consultation paper outlining its proposed regulatory framework for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins. The document introduces two unprecedented features: a holding cap for users and the potential for issuers to access central bank liquidity.
IBM Debuts 'Digital Asset Haven' Platform With Dfns to Ease Institutional Access
On Monday, tech giant IBM announced the launch of Digital Asset Haven, a platform for institutions to custody, manage, and settle digital assets. Built with wallet-infrastructure provider Dfns, the platform runs on the same systems that already process most of the world’s payments and capital-markets operations.
Major Banks Join Forces to Explore Issuance of Digital Money
On Friday, ten major banks, including Santander, BNP Paribas, Bank of America, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citi, announced they are joining forces to explore issuing a “1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money” on public blockchains, initially focused on G7 currencies.
“Europe Needs a Unified Capital Markets DLT” — The Regulated Layer 1 (RL1) Aims to Deliver It
Last week, Frankfurt-based SWIAT announced the Regulated Layer 1 (RL1), a shared ledger for capital-markets activity that builds on the existing SWIAT network under a new cooperative governance model. The initiative unites ten European financial institutions, including ABN AMRO, DekaBank, DZ BANK, KfW, LBBW, Natixis CIB, and NatWest.
