Today, Nomura announced an investment in Fnality, the interbank payment and settlement platform that uses blockchain technology and is now backed by 17 major financial institutions.

Fnality, formerly known as Utility Settlement Coin, tokenizes money deposited with a central bank to enable settlement of DLT-based transactions with on-chain digital currency. Next month it is expected to launch its first currency, the British pound, as Her Majesty’s Treasury has formally recognized it as a payment system. Other planned currencies are euros, US dollars, Japanese yen and Canadian dollars.

Reiterating that plan today, Fnality CEO Rohomaios Ram said, “We at Fnality are excited to leverage Nomura’s extensive experience in the capital markets in Japan, the US and Europe as we expand beyond the United Kingdom”. Sources have told Ledger Insights that Fnality is moving forward with its digital euro work, as also demonstrated by an investment from Euroclear earlier this year. And Fnality participated in the recent launch of DTCC’s Project Ion for the settlement of US securities.

Nomura is the fourth Japanese institution to join Fnality after Mizuho, ​​MUFG and SMBC. Japan is also one of the most advanced countries in the progress of security token issuance. As that unfolds, the need for cash settlement on the central bank money ledger will become more pressing.

Fnality is currently in the process of raising £50m ($54m) Series B funding after raising the same amount in 2019.

“The transformation of financial services powered by blockchain technology is clearly accelerating, and we believe Fnality is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the significant opportunities this evolution brings,” said Angel Issa, Global Head of Corporate Development and Investments. Nomura’s strategies.

“We look forward to leveraging Fnality’s technology and expertise to continue to deliver differentiated value to our customers and partners globally.”

Meanwhile, Nomura has been active in blockchain and capital markets for years, and founded Boostry, which owns a tokenization platform used for bonds and other instruments. Additionally, she recently launched a digital asset subsidiary, Laser Digital Holdings, in Switzerland.

The full list of Fnality investors is Banco Santander, Bank of New York Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Euroclear, ING, KBC Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Mizuho, ​​MUFG Group, Nasdaq, Nomura, SMBC, State Street and UBS.