Tokenised cash or securities posted as margin to a central counterparty.
Proof of concept1Pilot1Live (limited)2
Why tokenise?
Draft analysis · not yet reviewed by the editor · updated 12 Oct 2026. The flows below are simplified for general understanding. Real implementations vary a great deal and are often far more complex.
A central counterparty, or clearing house, stands between buyers and sellers of futures and other derivatives, and asks them for margin: cash or bonds that cover losses if a member defaults. Margin calls can come at any time, but money and securities only move while banks and settlement systems are open. Tokenisation lets eligible bonds, and in future tokenised cash, reach the clearing house in minutes and potentially at any hour.
Improves an existing processPosting margin is routine and the clearing house's role does not change. Tokenisation makes delivery faster and less tied to settlement windows, and could make bonds and fund shares as easy to post as cash. It builds on the collateral mobility case, focusing on what a clearing house needs: assets it accepts as eligible, intraday and overnight margin calls, and settlement windows.
The problem today
Margin calls usually have to be met in cash within a short window, and outside local banking hours the options are limited.[1]
Some clearing houses accept bonds for intraday margin calls, but this is rarely used because delivering securities in time is complex and slow.[1]
Moving securities from another custodian to the clearing house's depository goes through settlement chains.Hours or even days to move collateral to Clearstream for Eurex Clearing margin, versus a couple of minutes on DLT[2]
Overnight calls force members to fund outside payment-system hours, keep cash buffers ready in advance and rely on manual work at night; ASX members single out a 2am US dollar call on its futures clearing house.[3]
Bank holidays differ between countries, so margin can be due at a clearing house on a day when the paying bank is closed.[4]
In stress, margin calls jump in size and frequency, straining firms' liquidity, as in March 2020 and the 2022 UK pension fund turmoil.[5]
Today vs tokenised (simplified)
End to end:hours to days for bonds; cash only while banks are open→a couple of minutes · Measured at Eurex Clearing for bonds moved from another custodian; out-of-hours delivery is still a plan.
Todayend to end: hours to days for bonds; cash only while banks are open
Clearing houseCalculates margin and issues a call, sometimes intraday or overnightminutes
Clearing memberPasses the call on to its clientminutes to hours
Client's collateral teamLooks for cash or eligible bonds across its custodianshours
Custodians and depositoriesDeliver bonds to the clearing house's account through settlement links, within opening hourshours to daysremoved
Clearing memberIf bonds cannot arrive in time or systems are closed, pays cash from buffers kept ready for the purposesame dayremoved
Clearing houseConfirms receipt and credits the marginhours
Tokenisedend to end: a couple of minutes
Clearing houseIssues a margin callminutes
Clearing member or clientPicks eligible tokenised bonds, or tokenised cash, from one view of its holdingsminutes
Shared ledgerRecords the transfer to the clearing house; the bonds can stay at their custodiana couple of minutes
Shared ledgerChecks eligibility and applies haircuts against the clearing house's rulesseconds
Clearing houseCredits the margin, in future also outside banking hoursminutes
Bonds held at another custodian reach the clearing house as margin in minutes, by changing an ownership record rather than shipping them.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
A couple of minutes instead of hours or even days (Eurex Clearing, used daily by members)Operator-reported[2]
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds connected ledgers
DTCC Tokenization Service: In July 2026 production trades, DTC-held securities were turned into tokens and used in collateral pledge and CCP margin workflows, among others, on Besu and Canton, with more than 30 firms taking part. DTCC said this showed real-time collateral mobility, but gave no timings or amounts. Full launch is scheduled for October 2026.[7]
Eurex Clearing DLT-based collateral mobilisation (via HQLAX): A year after launch, Eurex said clearing members use the HQLAX-based service every day, and that moving securities from another custodian to Clearstream for use as margin takes a couple of minutes instead of hours or even days. No volumes or member counts are disclosed.[2]
Tokenised Treasuries and money market fund shares could be posted as margin directly, so firms post yield-earning assets instead of selling them for cash.
Theory · high confidenceMeaningfulAs networks grow
A margin call could trigger the movement of pre-agreed collateral automatically, in a set order of priority, with no one at a desk at night; in time margin could be taken more often or continuously.
Theory · low confidenceMeaningfulFuture state
Needs smart contracts
Where it is now
4 tracked deployments, 2 live. 1 of 6 benefits evidenced in production.
Proof of concept1Pilot1Live (limited)2
The full potential
If clearing houses accept a wider range of tokenised assets and cash on connected ledgers, members could meet any margin call, at any hour, with whatever eligible asset they hold, in minutes. That could shrink the cash kept idle for overnight calls, let more margin earn a return, and ease the scramble for cash in a crisis. Eurex shows the first step works for bonds within business days; the rest depends on eligibility rules, legal certainty and tokenised cash the clearing house trusts.
Clearing-house rules that name tokenised assets as eligible, with haircuts and default handling agreed
Legal certainty that a ledger entry proves ownership in a member default, in every relevant country
Tokenised cash from issuers the clearing house will accept, ideally central bank money (the Eurosystem's Pontes is due in Q3 2026)
Settlement systems or tokenised links that run outside today's hours
Links between ledgers so one clearing house does not need a wallet on every network
Who it suits
Market infrastructure (FMI), Bank, Broker-dealer or market maker, Asset manager, Specialist digital asset custodian, Investor (VC or PE) · effort: high · value depends on counterparties joining
A clearing house that accepts the tokenised asset as eligible margin
Collateral at a custodian or depository connected to the ledger service
Clearing member systems able to instruct transfers on the ledger
Limits and open questions
Moving an asset faster does not make it eligible. Clearing houses must still accept it under their risk rules for liquidity, valuation, haircuts and default handling, and benefits only come with a broad pool of eligible collateral.[3]
The legal status of native tokens is unclear: are they securities, do transfers give settlement finality, and do they meet custody rules.[4]
Regulators assess tokenised collateral case by case, looking at legal enforceability, custody and control, haircuts and operational risk.[8]
A clearing house will be choosy about whose tokenised cash it takes; stablecoins and deposit tokens raise questions of credit risk, reserves and regulatory treatment.[3]
Some clearing frictions are not tokenisation problems, such as delays between a trade and its clearing that inflate margin; fixing those may not need a ledger at all.[3]
The costs of wallets, custody and new network connections fall on members and clients, so the business case has to work across the whole clearing chain, not just for the clearing house.[3]