ClearToken Group and Consensys have announced a strategic partnership to deliver continuous settlement infrastructure for wholesale markets, pairing on-chain technical finality with legally binding settlement finality inside the UK regulatory perimeter.

The announcement, made in London on 8 October 2026, addresses a structural gap in tokenised-asset markets: while tokenised securities can move around the clock, the clearing, settlement and safeguarding infrastructure that wholesale institutions require has historically operated only during standard market hours. The partnership is designed to close that gap.

How the infrastructure works

ClearToken contributes two regulated entities to the arrangement. ClearToken CSD Limited holds Gate 2 approval in the Bank of England‘s Digital Securities Sandbox, which permits it to tokenise and de-tokenise eligible securities inside a financial market infrastructure’s regulatory perimeter. Its CT Register service allows eligible securities held at different banks to be recognised as a single fungible instrument; its CT Settle service extends settlement to tokenised securities on a continuous basis. ClearToken Depository Limited, authorised by the FCA as a payment institution under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, enables delivery-versus-payment settlement against fiat, tokenised deposits and stablecoins on a 24/7 basis.

Consensys provides the blockchain layer: the cryptographic certainty that a recorded on-chain transaction cannot be altered, along with institutional wallet infrastructure, interoperability tooling and connectivity across banking networks and financial market infrastructures. Consensys draws on more than a decade of enterprise Ethereum work, including the development of Besu, Linea and Teku, protocols that underpin several major financial institutions’ blockchain networks.

Ben Santos-Stephens, chief executive of ClearToken Group, said the partnership would give institutions the connective tissue they need to operate across multiple ledgers and networks. “Consensys brings the technology and the institutional relationships to deliver that at scale. We are building the legal and clearing framework institutions need in order to rely on it.”

David Cunningham, president of Consensys, framed the deal as a response to demand from banks and market infrastructures already moving towards always-on operations. “ClearToken is building a regulated route to clearing and settlement on a 24/7/365 basis, subject to clearing authorisation by the Bank of England. Together, this enables our clients to operate around the clock, opening up new business opportunities and reducing risk.”

ClearToken CCP Limited has separately applied to the Bank of England for authorisation as a central counterparty under UK EMIR, adding a further layer to the group’s regulatory build-out.

Regulatory and competitive context

The partnership sits squarely inside the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox, the Bank of England and FCA’s joint framework for testing financial market infrastructure involving digital securities in a live environment. The Sandbox is designed to allow firms to explore tokenised post-trade models without immediately meeting the full requirements of existing FMI legislation, while remaining subject to conditions set out in individual approval notices.

Several other firms are pursuing similar infrastructure plays. The question of whether institutional tokenisation achieves critical mass will hinge less on the technology itself than on regulatory authorisation milestones. For ClearToken, the CCP authorisation application under UK EMIR is the next significant marker: CCP status would allow it to act as a central counterparty for cleared trades, substantially widening its addressable market and the systemic weight it carries. Until that authorisation lands, the partnership’s scope is bounded by the conditions attached to the Sandbox approval.

For Consensys, the deal extends an existing strategy of embedding its infrastructure in regulated financial market settings globally, positioning its interoperability tooling as the connective layer between bank-issued tokens, payment schemes and legacy FMIs. The durability of that positioning depends on whether Ethereum-based infrastructure retains its institutional foothold as competing networks and proprietary bank chains mature.

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