Two digital asset firms, R3 and Quant, have been chosen to provide services for the UK’s Regulated Liability Network (RLN).
R3 is an enterprise focused permissioned blockchain provider named Corda. Quant is a tokenization service supporting traditional financial institutions.
RLN is led by UK Finance and supported by EY and Linklaters. Its goal is to create a common platform that enables a shared ledger for deposits in tokenized forms, as well as transfers, and payments. The RLN is said to be investigating options for users to make payments, transact, and settle liabilities in the digital marketplaces of the future.
Participants in the UK RLN include Barclays, Citi, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Mastercard, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, Standard Chartered, Virgin Money and Visa.
The tech team includes R3, Quant, DXC Technology (DXC) and Coadjute.
R3 Chief Commercial Officer Kate Karimson said the RLN initiative is bringing the financial services industry together to work on a shared goal of tokenization, which aims to be interoperable, efficient, and appropriately regulated.
“Being selected to lead and deliver the technology stream for the Experimentation Phase underpinning the UK RLN is a huge milestone for R3, and a testament to our technology when it comes to powering the digitalisation of real-world assets and currencies in complex and highly regulated industries,” said Karimson. “In the future, the RLN could provide a digital infrastructure that firms across the ecosystem can connect into and innovate further. We’re excited to be part of a truly pioneering initiative that will hopefully inform other future innovations.”
Gilbert Verdian, CEO and Founder at Quant, said the initiative closely aligns with their company vision.
We live in a digital age, in which people and companies expect digital finance to operate globally at speed, with better security and at scale – but our legacy payments and financial infrastructure has not kept up. As the UK seeks a leadership position in financial markets, projects like the RLN highlight the central role that shared ledgers will play in this transition and offer a model we can extend to other markets.”
The plan is to test several retail and wholesale payment use cases, including e-commerce, bond issuance, card gateway integration, and more.
The UK has pushed forward both privately and publicly to foster digital financial services, including digital assets. The UK recently announced another step in its Digital Securities Sandbox in recognition of the fact that all securities will eventually be digital.
