Repo opened and closed within the same day, often timed to the hour or minute, to manage intraday liquidity.
Announced2Proof of concept2Pilot1Live (limited)1Live (scaled)2Inactive1
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 repo is a short loan of cash secured on bonds. Tokenisation lets banks borrow for a few hours instead of overnight, because the bonds and the cash can change hands, and come back, within minutes on the same day.
New capabilityRepo itself is old, but repo by the hour was barely possible outside central banks. Conventional settlement was never built to open and close a trade within minutes, so the shortest practical loan was overnight. Tokenised settlement makes a same-day, timed repo practical for commercial banks.
The problem today
Banks often run short of cash for minutes or hours during the day, but the shortest normal repo is overnight, so they pay a full night's interest to cover a gap that may last only minutes.[1]
Because central bank overdraft fees start early in the morning, dealers rush to fund themselves first thing, crowding the market into a short window.Almost two-thirds of US Treasury FICC DvP repo volume is done between 07:00 and 08:30 (NY Fed 2021 review, as cited by Broadridge)[1]
Conventional repo markets largely lack a way to transfer collateral at the same instant as the payment, which is what same-day, timed trades need.[2]
Moving collateral between custodians is slow and manual, so firms keep extra collateral and cash sitting in several places.Hours or even days to move collateral between custodians, versus a couple of minutes on DLT (Eurex)[3]
The market is huge, so small frictions add up: even modest efficiency gains could mean large savings.Outstanding repo about €11 trillion in Europe (mid-2024) and $6.5 trillion in the US (end-2024)[2]
Today vs tokenised (simplified)
End to end:overnight (the shortest practical loan)→hours, settled in minutes
Todayend to end: overnight (the shortest practical loan)
Bank treasurySpots an expected cash shortfall during the dayminutes
Bank treasuryBorrows overnight in early-morning repo, because no shorter loan is practicalearly morningremoved
Bank and counterpartyInstruct the tri-party agent or custodian; collateral and cash move as separate legshoursremoved
Both banksConfirm and reconcile that both legs settledend of dayremoved
Bank treasuryHolds the cash all night and pays a full night's interest, even if the gap lasted an hourovernightremoved
Bank and counterpartyUnwind the repo; collateral and cash return next daynext morningremoved
Tokenisedend to end: hours, settled in minutes
Bank treasurySpots an expected cash shortfall during the dayminutes
Bank and lenderAgree a repo with a start and end time, for example 11:00 to 14:00minutes
Shared ledgerSwaps tokenised bonds for on-ledger cash in one step, or not at allseconds to minutes
Shared ledgerReturns cash plus a small fee and releases the bonds at the agreed timeat maturity, same day
Banks borrow cash only for the hours they need it, rather than overnight, and lenders can put idle daytime cash to work.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Roughly $5 million a year saved for one dealerOur estimate
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledger
Kinexys Digital Financing (intraday and term repo): J.P. Morgan reports that one unnamed global financial institution using Digital Financing for intraday funding paid a 56% lower borrowing rate than on its usual intraday credit, with repo interest charged by the minute and settlement in minutes. The figure is the operator's own and varies by client.[5]
J.P. Morgan and HQLAx on-chain intraday repo: Repo traders swap cash in J.P. Morgan blockchain deposit accounts for collateral on HQLAx within the day, with the start and end of each repo set to the minute. Ownera's CEO said the first phase had grown to handle up to $1 billion of trading a day.[4]
Repo by the hour, until recently offered almost only by central banks, now trades between commercial banks on tokenised platforms.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
$365 billion average daily repo on Broadridge DLR in July 2026 (all tenors; intraday share not disclosed)Operator-reported[6]
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds smart contracts
Broadridge Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR): Broadridge says intraday repo, which until recently was almost only offered by central banks, is now traded on DLR, with banks including J.P. Morgan, UBS and DBS named as executing intraday repos on DLR or J.P. Morgan's ledger. Intraday volumes are not broken out.[1]
The bonds and the cash swap in one step on the same ledger, so a repo can open and close within the day without either side being left exposed.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Over $1.6 trillion of repo processed on Kinexys Digital Financing since 2020Operator-reported[7]
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds smart contracts
Kinexys Digital Financing (intraday and term repo): Tokenised government bonds held at J.P. Morgan triparty and cash in blockchain deposit accounts move together on one ledger, giving near-simultaneous delivery versus payment for intraday and term repo. The application had processed more than $1.6 trillion since its 2020 launch, and Santander used it for its first euro intraday repos in early 2025.[7]
Collateral can be pledged, swapped mid-trade or moved between custodians in minutes, so it is where the repo needs it.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
A couple of minutes instead of hours or days to move collateral (Eurex, margin use)Operator-reported[3]
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds connected ledgers
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.[3]
HQLAX and Deutsche Börse collateral basket swaps (Eurex Repo): One of the first live swaps, in December 2019, moved ownership of a basket of German government bonds held at Euroclear Bank to a counterparty whose collateral sat at Clearstream, without the securities themselves moving between the two depositories. Deutsche Börse's trusted third party linked the custodians to the registry. No timings or volumes were published.[8]
A deep intraday repo market could let banks hold smaller cash buffers for daytime payments, which could in turn shrink the reserves the central bank needs to supply.
Theory · low confidenceMeaningfulAs networks grow
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds regulatory change
Financing can run outside market hours and at weekends when both the bonds and the cash are on the ledger.
Theory · low confidenceMarginalAs networks grow
Needs cash on the ledgerNeeds counterparties on the ledger
Canton Network on-chain US Treasury financing (industry working group): The first on-chain financing of US Treasuries against USDC on Canton was executed on a Saturday, outside normal market hours, with near-instant atomic settlement. Treasuries held at DTC were represented on Canton so they could be used as freely transferable collateral. One pilot trade; no amounts disclosed.[10]
Where it is now
9 tracked deployments, 3 live. 4 of 7 benefits evidenced in production.
Announced2Proof of concept2Pilot1Live (limited)1Live (scaled)2Inactive1
The full potential
If more banks, more cash and more collateral sit on connected ledgers, intraday repo could become a normal way to manage daytime liquidity, cut overnight borrowing that is only needed for hours, and ease the early morning funding rush. Central bankers see possible knock-on effects on how many reserves banks need, though the direction is not yet clear.
More counterparties on the same or connected ledgers, so a bank can find a lender at any hour
Trusted on-ledger cash: tokenised deposits today, ideally settlement in central bank money
Links between platforms (Kinexys, DLR, HQLAX, Canton) so collateral is not stuck on one ledger
Clear legal treatment of settlement finality and of tokenised collateral
Market conventions for intraday fees and documentation
Who it suits
Bank, Broker-dealer or market maker, Specialist digital asset custodian, Market infrastructure (FMI) · effort: medium · value depends on counterparties joining
Collateral that can be tokenised or held on a ledger-linked custodian or tri-party agent
Access to on-ledger cash, such as blockchain deposit accounts
Treasury systems able to forecast intraday cash needs
Limits and open questions
Still small. The New York Fed calls tokenised repo a nascent market, driven so far by some intraday and intra-company trades. Large headline volumes on single platforms do not yet mean a broad market between many banks.[9]
Instant settlement can cut netting and raise gross payment flows, so some banks expect 24/7 instant payments to increase, not reduce, their need for cash reserves.[9]
Fragmentation across legacy and new networks is a key challenge; bridges between ledgers rely heavily on trusting intermediaries.[2]
The full benefits depend on settling in central bank money; most tokenised repo today settles in commercial bank deposits or stablecoins, which carry the issuer's credit risk.[2]
Activity is concentrated on platforms run by single firms, such as J.P. Morgan's Kinexys, so users depend on that operator; links such as the J.P. Morgan and HQLAx service are early attempts to bridge them.[4]
[5]Digital Financing case study— J.P. Morgan. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. Single unnamed client; J.P. Morgan says results vary and are not guaranteed. Case study undated, so asOf is the access date..B