CME explores token for collateral
CME Group is considering launching its own digital token as it explores how tokenised assets could be used as collateral across financial markets, according to CEO Terry Duffy.
During a company earnings call, Duffy said the exchange is assessing alternative forms of margin, including tokenised cash and a potential CME-issued token that could operate on a decentralised network.
“Not only are we looking at tokenized cash […] we’re looking at different initiatives with our own coin that we could potentially put on a decentralized network for other of our industry participants to use,” said Duffy.
The CEO's reference to tokenised cash relates to a collaboration with Google announced in March, where CME Group and Google Cloud began piloting blockchain based infrastructure for wholesale payments and asset tokenisation using Google Cloud’s Universal Ledger.
The potential CME issued token would be a separate initiative, and the exchange did not outline how it would operate.