Today Singapore’s Marketnode announced it raised a Series A investment round led by HSBC with contributions from Temasek, the state-owned investment firm. Marketnode was founded as a DLT market infrastructure by Temasek and stock exchange SGX. It provides DLT solutions for credit, funds and structured products.
HSBC has participated in several Marketnode projects since the early days. Most recently it partnered with HSBC and UOB to trial structured product issuance on public blockchain as part of Project Guardian. However, the relationship started in 2021 when HSBC was one of the first batch of banks to participate in Marketnode’s bond experiments. The following year HSBC was involved Fundnode, the DLT settlement infrastructure that Marketnode will soon launch.
While it’s easy to peg Marketnode as a tokenization platform, given it works in regulated markets, its role is far broader. Functionality includes workflow, standardizing data, managing documents and automating asset servicing.
“Our investment in Marketnode showcases our joint commitment to building a robust multi-asset digital infrastructure across our markets, helping our customers enter the world of digital assets safely and securely,” said HSBC’s Ian Glasner, Group Head of Innovation, Ventures, and Digital Partnerships. HSBC’s John O’Neill will join the board.
HSBC has ramped up its tokenization initiatives in the past couple of years. Its HSBC Orion platform was used in Hong Kong for the largest digital bond issuance to date ($750m). It also launched a tokenized gold solution.
“The marriage of Marketnode’s FMI operational expertise and HSBC’s market leading global platform represents a unique opportunity to shape the next generation of trusted and neutral market infrastructure,” said Rehan Ahmed, Marketnode’s President.