Fnality starts first phase of payment operations using funds at Bank of England

Fnality, a London-based blockchain payments firm, today officially kicked off the first phase of live transactions using a digital representation of funds held at the Bank of England.

In a statement shared with The Block, Fnality said it has commenced its Sterling Fnality Payment System with participation from Lloyds Banking Group, Banco Santander and UBS.

The system “brings together for the first time the safety and institutional quality of central bank funds in a systemic wholesale payment system with the innovative functionality and resilience of blockchain technology,” the company said.

The initial live transaction “evidences the first foundations of a broader multi-jurisdictional vision,” enabling a global liquidity management ecosystem in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenized asset markets, Fnality added. However, the initial phase, focused on ensuring system resilience and functionality in a live environment, is subject to limits set by the Bank of England.

“As we step into 2024, our focus sharpens on scaling up operations within a managed and approved framework as set out by the Bank of England, and steadily progressing towards unlocking new market use cases,” Angus Fletcher, CEO of Fnality UK, said in the statement.

Fnality raised $95 million last month in a round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura, WisdomTree and a bevy of existing bank-backers also participated.