Global Settlement Network is developing financial infrastructure for regulated digital currency issuance, tokenized assets, institutional cross-border settlement, liquidity, and on-chain identity. Its platform is designed to connect financial institutions, assets, and liquidity across networks and jurisdictions while integrating with existing financial systems. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Global Settlement Network Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Kirkley to learn more about digital settlement infrastructure, tokenization, interoperability, and the modernization of global financial markets.
Ryan Kirkley’s Background
When asked about his background, Kirkley shared:
I first entered the blockchain space in 2013 exploring BTC and cryptographic communications. As I continued in the space, I focused on tracking illicit activities, scams, and more on-chain before moving my focus to real-world use cases with areas ranging from interoperability and tokenized markets to identity and compliance systems.
Before Global Settlement, I worked across companies in machine learning, defense, blockchain, martech, and consumer products, but over time, I became more focused on financial infrastructure.
A lot of that came from seeing how quickly markets were digitizing while the systems underneath them barely evolved.
Markets now move globally and in real time, but settlement infrastructure still relies heavily on fragmented intermediaries and decades-old rails. That gap is really what led to Global Settlement.
How Global Settlement Network Started
When asked how the idea for the company came together, Kirkley explained:
The company came together from a pretty simple observation while running a venture fund.
The entire crypto space was trying to apply blockchains built for decentralization to traditional finance, while traditional finance was picking from 90-plus blockchains and often building custom solutions.
Finance has become digital, global, and increasingly real-time, but settlement and interoperable infrastructure still hasn’t caught up.
Stablecoins, tokenized assets, and digital currencies were growing quickly, but most of the infrastructure around them was either speculative or disconnected from how institutions actually operate.
We saw an opportunity to build regulated settlement rails that could connect liquidity, compliance, identity, and asset movement into something institutions could realistically use at scale.
The goal was never to build another isolated crypto platform. It was to focus on the infrastructure layer underneath markets and rebuild how value moves across borders.
Favorite Memory
When asked about his favorite memory working for the company so far, Kirkley said:
My favorite memory has to be in the early days of the company. Kyle, my co-founder, and I took off to Asia running on the last of our savings and essentially moved across the continent raising and keeping the business alive as we closed our first investors and partnerships.
Core Products And Features
When asked about Global Settlement Network’s core products and features, Kirkley detailed:
Global Settlement is focused on infrastructure for regulated digital currency issuance, tokenized assets, and institutional cross-border settlement.
That includes settlement rails, liquidity infrastructure, tokenized asset markets, and GSX ID, our on-chain identity and credentialing layer designed to reduce repeated onboarding and compliance checks across counterparties.
A major focus for us is interoperability, allowing institutions, assets, and liquidity to move across networks and jurisdictions without operating in isolated systems.
Navigating Institutional Adoption
When asked about recent challenges in the sector and how Global Settlement Network has addressed them, Kirkley explained:
One of the biggest challenges in this sector is that technology has moved faster than institutional coordination and trust.
The technology problem actually isn’t the hard part anymore.
The harder part is getting liquidity, compliance, governance, and interoperability aligned across multiple jurisdictions and counterparties.
We’ve approached that by working within regulated frameworks and focusing on infrastructure that integrates into existing financial systems rather than trying to replace everything overnight.
How The Technology Has Evolved
When asked how Global Settlement Network’s technology has evolved since launching, Kirkley said:
Initially the focus was more narrowly around tokenization and liquidity.
Over time, it became clear that this alone wasn’t enough. Identity, compliance, liquidity, and interoperability all needed to exist within the same framework for institutions to actually operate at scale and adopt stablecoins and tokenization.
That evolution led to products like GSX ID and broader work around tokenized infrastructure, liquidity corridors, and institutional onboarding.
Key Company Milestones
When asked about some of Global Settlement Network’s most significant milestones, Kirkley highlighted:
A few stand out.
Building settlement corridors tied to Africa and Europe alongside partners like Ubuntu has been important because those regions have some of the clearest demand for more efficient financial infrastructure and cross-border liquidity access.
Our work in Uganda with Diacente around digital economic infrastructure, as well as our water infrastructure financing initiative in Indonesia with Globalasia Infrastructure Fund, were also major milestones because they showed how tokenized settlement systems can be applied to real-world capital flows, not just speculative markets.
More recently, integrating GSX ID into the Canton Network ecosystem alongside partners including Texture Capital, Black Manta Capital Partners, and Particula, as well as securing over $125 million in liquidity commitments for settlement operations, were important steps toward scaling institutional adoption.
Customer Success Stories
When asked to share specific customer success stories, Kirkley explained:
One area we’ve seen strong traction is cross-border settlement corridors where stablecoin rails are being used to reduce settlement friction and improve liquidity access between markets, particularly through our work with Ubuntu across Africa and Europe.
We’ve also worked with partners like Diacente and Globalasia Infrastructure Fund on projects where tokenized capital and stablecoin settlement are tied to infrastructure and commodity-linked flows, including trade, gold, and water infrastructure financing.
What’s been interesting is seeing these systems shift from experimental use cases into operational financial infrastructure.
Total Addressable Market
When asked about the total addressable market Global Settlement Network is pursuing, Kirkley explained:
We view the opportunity as much larger than digital assets alone.
Cross-border payments, settlement infrastructure, tokenized real-world assets, and digital currency issuance collectively represent multi-trillion-dollar global markets.
As more assets and financial systems become digitally native, the need for interoperable settlement infrastructure grows materially.
Competitive Differentiation
When asked what differentiates Global Settlement Network from its competition, Kirkley said:
A lot of the industry focused on speculative trading infrastructure over the last cycle.
We took a different approach and focused on the operational side of finance, settlement, liquidity, compliance, and how value actually moves between institutions and markets.
What differentiates us is that we’re building infrastructure designed to work across real jurisdictions, real counterparties, and real capital flows, particularly in emerging markets where the inefficiencies are much more visible.
What differentiates us from other blockchains is that we have built an infrastructure where other blockchains function as layer 2s on our network, allowing for bridgeless interoperability.
Future Goals
When discussing Global Settlement Network’s future goals, Kirkley explained:
The next phase for us is continuing to scale institutional settlement corridors, expand liquidity infrastructure, and deepen integrations across regulated financial systems and blockchain networks.
We also see a major opportunity around programmable settlement, tokenized real-world assets, and the broader modernization of how capital moves globally over the next decade.
In the coming years, we expect to enter into over 30 live-scale central bank digital currency productions and clear over $100 billion annually in transactions.
The Importance Of Settlement Infrastructure
When invited to discuss another topic, Kirkley concluded:
One thing that still doesn’t get discussed enough is how important settlement infrastructure actually is.
Most people focus on assets or currencies themselves, but the systems that move value underneath markets shape everything from liquidity and accessibility to economic coordination.
A lot of what’s happening now is really the rebuilding of financial infrastructure for a world where markets are increasingly digital, global, and real-time.
