Fnality Raises £77.7 Million in Series B Funding

Fnality, an international consortium of global banks working on a blockchain-based payment system, has raised £77.7 million in a Series B funding round. The round was co-led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas.

Boost for Blockchain-based Payment System

The fresh capital is set to boost Fnality’s mission to establish a global liquidity management ecosystem supporting new digital payment models. These models operate in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenised asset markets. DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura and WisdomTree joined the leading investors in the round.

Previous Investors Reinforce their Support

Additional investments came from Series A investors including Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and UBS. This recent funding round brings the total capital raised by Fnality to £132.7 million. It comes in anticipation of the launch of the initial Sterling Fnality Payment System (£FnPS) operations in 2023, pending regulatory approval.

A Revolutionary Approach to Payments

Founded in 2019, Fnality is developing a series of regulated, DLT-based wholesale payment systems in key jurisdictions, each overseen by its home central bank. The UK is expected to be the first market to go live. In each Fnality Payment System (FnPS), participants use settlement balances in an account directly at the central bank to make wholesale payments in real-time.

Bridging the Gap between Traditional and Decentralised Finance

“Our Series B funding round represents the financial sector’s desire for a central bank money backed blockchain-based settlement solution that bridges the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralised finance (DeFi) in wholesale markets,” comments Rhomaios Ram, CEO of Fnality International. Each Fnality Payment System uses DLT to provide a 24/7 payment rail with the potential to reduce settlement cycles to real-time, a significant innovation in wholesale payments.

Goldman Sachs Sees Transformative Impact

Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, praised Fnality’s solution as a key enabler for the digital asset ecosystem. He noted that Fnality’s application of blockchain technology provides a resilient way for institutions to use central bank funds across a wide range of potential use cases. These include instantaneous, cross-border, cross-currency payments, collateral mobility, and security transactions. McDermott expressed enthusiasm about the transformative impact Fnality brings.