A total of 44% of respondents in a 2026 survey of the FIA community regarded the use of tokenisation to modernise and accelerate collateral management as a “game changer” for the trading and clearing workflow. This reflects the attention on 24/7 intraday repo as a leading use case, where real-time settlement of tokenised assets and cash can accelerate collateral velocity and improve efficiency to transform capital optimisation.
Despite some parts of the derivatives market believing in the broad future impact of tokenisation, others are less convinced. Just 16% of end users (e.g. asset managers and hedge funds), compared to 50% of intermediaries (e.g. clearing firms, brokers and swap dealers), agreed that the adoption of tokenisation and digital assets in mainstream finance was one of the most important issues facing the industry.
This scepticism is not unfounded. Despite moving towards the mainstream, ‘the promise of tokenisation’ has not yet been realised through seamless 24/7 trading. Even the most successful tokenisation projects have not proved themselves beyond creating headlines: confined to vertical silos, they restrict liquidity, which limits real-world adoption. Scaling beyond those silos into continuous markets will depend on post-trade infrastructure that can clear, settle and manage risk around the clock.
Every market needs resilient risk management infrastructure
In his opening remarks at IDX this year, FIA President and CEO Walt Lukken said: 'A 24/7 market without 24/7 risk management is not progress. It’s a vulnerability.' Yet much of the digital asset market has developed from the viewpoint that the main risk lies in the duration of the settlement window, which could be eliminated by real-time atomic settlement on an immutable blockchain-based ledger.
This purely technical approach overlooks many of the frameworks that are integral to the safe functioning of institutional financial markets, including liquidity management, margin, clearing, risk management, legal finality, payment systems and operational resilience. The impact of tokenisation will not reduce the need for this ecosystem but increases it. For example:
- Faster and continuous settlement increases the need for CCPs that deliver real-time liquidity management and risk controls 24/7.
- Extended trading hours increase exposures, so the collateral use case depends on a clearing house for digital assets that supports margining, multilateral netting and other core functions.
- Existing infrastructure cannot support 24/7 markets and the movement of collateral and payments outside traditional banking hours, such as overnight, at weekends and bank holidays.
- Without a legally recognised CSD settlement system to provide legal finality, ownership of assets posted as collateral is uncertain in the event of a default or other failure.
Extended trading hours alone will not drive tokenisation. Without a horizontal, neutral clearing layer and legally recognised settlement, longer hours add exposure without the controls to manage it. Arguably, the absence of essential post-trade FMI to facilitate resilient, risk-managed tokenised markets underpins the sceptical and lacklustre institutional adoption of tokenisation.
The full post-trade stack solution for digital assets
ClearToken’s mission is to establish an independent, horizontal and neutral financial market infrastructure under English law and UK regulation to support the convergence of traditional and digital finance as they expand into continuous markets. Subject to authorisation, ClearToken Group will operate clearing and settlement services 24/7, moving collateral 365 days a year and managing risk around the clock through:
- ClearToken CCP: progressing Bank of England authorisation as a Central Counterparty. If authorised, it will be the first independent clearing house authorised in the UK since 2014 and the first for digital assets.
- ClearToken CSD: passed Gate 2 of the Bank of England’s Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS) in September 2026, approved to operate a Digital Securities Depository and conduct live activity as permitted within the DSS’s limits.
- ClearToken Depository: FCA-authorised to offer delivery-vs-payment settlement and payments on a continuous basis.
The future impact of tokenisation should not be underestimated
By focusing on the legal and operational blockers to adoption, ClearToken is helping the market move tokenisation projects from proof-of-concept into existing workflows.
For example, one significant issue is the lack of interoperability between traditional and tokenised markets, particularly a lack of fungibility between securities issued in both formats. To resolve this, ClearToken proposed Tokenised Depository Interests (TDIs), whereby tokenised versions of transferable securities can share the same ISIN as the traditional underlying. This innovation has been approved by the Bank of England, with ClearToken CSD permitted to issue and settle TDIs within the DSS.
Combined with ClearToken’s 24/7 post-trade services, this approach will expand collateral eligibility, increase market velocity and improve collateral management without fragmenting liquidity into private, vertical silos. For clearing members, that means preparing now for intraday margin and increased collateral flows.
Through innovative approaches like these, tokenisation is moving closer to its game-changing impact on mainstream finance.
Are you and your post-trade partners ready for 24/7 tokenised markets? Join our working groups to be part of a generational change in financial markets. Contact us at info@cleartoken.io to learn more.
