Fnality, a company focused on developing next-generation wholesale payment systems under the watchful eye of central banks, has successfully raised an impressive $136 million, equivalent to £99.7 million, in a Series C funding round. This substantial investment was spearheaded by a distinguished group of lead investors, including WisdomTree, Bank of America, Citi, KBC Group, Temasek, and Tradeweb. In addition to these new key players, the round also saw continued support from existing investors, including Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Euroclear, Goldman Sachs, ING, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, and UBS, underscoring the widespread confidence in Fnality’s vision and progress.
This latest funding round marks a pivotal moment for Fnality as it continues to pursue its ambitious goal of establishing a new global settlement network. This innovative network is designed to harness the power of distributed ledger technology, commonly known as DLT, to create a seamless bridge between today’s established wholesale markets and the rapidly evolving landscape of institutional tokenized assets.
Following the launch of the Sterling Fnality Payment System in the United Kingdom in December 2023, Fnality’s strategic plans are now focused on expanding the reach of its network to encompass other major global currencies. The company is also dedicated to developing sophisticated solutions that enhance and optimize liquidity management, and to actively support the emerging payment ecosystem by ensuring settlement interoperability for groundbreaking innovations, such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
Fnality is uniquely positioned to become a foundational pillar of this new global settlement layer, working closely with other vital market infrastructures across the burgeoning digital assets landscape. Together with the broader industry, Fnality is actively developing robust solutions that are poised to redefine financial transactions. These innovations range from providing real-time settlement for tokenized securities through secure delivery-versus-payment mechanisms, facilitated by its unique earmarking feature, to enabling on-demand foreign exchange payment-versus-payment settlements via the Sterling Fnality Payment System, also known as £FnPS. The company is also making strides in facilitating real-time repo transactions.
Each of these examples shows how regulated DLT-enabled payments are fundamentally reshaping traditional financial market infrastructures, thereby accelerating the continuous evolution towards capital markets that are more integrated, more liquid, and ultimately, more resilient.
Advisor/counsel: Broadhaven acted as financial advisor to the round, and Sullivan & Cromwell acted as legal counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“The closing of our Series C reflects a shared conviction that the future of money demands a new foundation, one with Fnality at its core. Our blockchain-based settlement systems, anchored in the credit quality of central bank money, connect traditional finance with the fast adoption of tokenized and decentralized markets. With 24/7 payment rails, real-time settlement, and enhanced liquidity management, we’re not just modernizing wholesale payments, we’re building a future that fuses Decentralized Finance’s operational optimization with Traditional Finance’s capital efficiency. This investment accelerates our journey toward a financial market infrastructure that is more resilient, more inclusive, and ready for the hybrid future of global finance.”
Michelle Neal, CEO of Fnality International
“Our investment in Fnality reflects our ambition to plug directly into the rapidly growing tokenized markets. At WisdomTree, we have been pioneers in blockchain-based finance with the launch of WisdomTree Prime® and WisdomTree ConnectTM, bringing ETFs, U.S. Treasuries, gold, and dollar tokens onto blockchain rails to enable 24/7 settlement and programmable finance. We see Fnality’s blockchain-based settlement systems, anchored in reserves held in central banks, as a critical foundation for this vision and the future infrastructure of financial services.”
Jonathan Steinberg, CEO and Founder at WisdomTree
“This partnership is an important milestone in the digitization of institutional markets. By embracing new technological solutions, we can modernize the market structure and build a foundation for institutions to operate with greater speed and efficiency. We are excited to play a role in delivering meaningful innovation to the financial ecosystem.”
Jim DeMare, Co-President of Bank of America
“Fnality’s work in wholesale payments aligns with Citi’s ongoing commitment to delivering innovative solutions for the digital asset landscape. Their regulated DLT-based approach offers a compelling pathway for more efficient and resilient financial market infrastructure. We are pleased to support Fnality’s efforts in developing interoperable payment systems that can contribute to the evolution of tokenized markets.”
Deepak Mehra, Head of Digital Strategy, Citi Markets
“KBC Group is pleased to renew its investment in Fnality, reflecting our belief in the long-term potential of regulated digital payment systems. KBC Group’s strategic vision is centered on enabling the future of finance through trusted innovation, and Fnality’s work is a natural fit with our ambition to support technologies that deliver real-world impact and long-term resilience for financial markets. We’re investing in a future where interoperability, speed, and security are not trade-offs but standard features. Fnality’s platform is a blueprint for how financial institutions can work together to deliver better outcomes.”
Erik Luts, Executive Director & Chief Innovation Officer KBC Group
“Tradeweb’s ambition is to build a 24/7 global capital market ecosystem, and having wholesale payment rails integrated into existing workflows is an important step in that evolution. By enabling central bank-backed cash to move on-ledger any time, Fnality is unlocking the full potential of trading digital bonds and other tokenized securities — helping innovation in payments keep pace with innovation in the assets themselves.”
Billy Hult, CEO at Tradeweb
