TLDR
- Marketnode, a Singapore-based digital market infrastructure operator, has closed its Series A investment round led by HSBC, with contributions from existing shareholder Temasek.
- The funding will be used to scale Marketnode’s platforms and develop a multi-asset ecosystem, starting in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Marketnode and HSBC have been collaborating since 2020 on various digital market infrastructure projects, including credit, funds, and structured products.
- The investment will enable Marketnode to collaborate with the financial services industry to scale infrastructure across key asset classes
- John O’Neill, Global Head of Digital Asset Strategy at HSBC, will join Marketnode’s Board of Directors as part of the investment.
Marketnode, a Singapore-based digital market infrastructure operator founded by Temasek and SGX Group, has announced the successful closure of its Series A investment round.
The funding was led by global banking giant HSBC, with contributions from existing shareholder Temasek.
Although the exact amount of the investment was not disclosed, the funding will be used to scale Marketnode’s platforms and realize the shareholders’ ambitions to develop a multi-asset ecosystem, starting in the Asia-Pacific region.
The collaboration between Marketnode and HSBC dates back to 2020 when the two entities began co-developing a digital market infrastructure spanning credit, funds, and structured products.
Since then, they have jointly participated in various initiatives, including the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian, which focuses on asset tokenization, as well as several digital bond initiatives and Singapore’s fund settlement infrastructure, Fundnode.
With this investment, Marketnode aims to collaborate with the financial services industry to scale infrastructure across key asset classes, such as digital fixed income and structured products.
The funding will also support the upcoming launch of Fundnode and the rollout of other tokenized asset offerings.
As part of HSBC’s investment, John O’Neill, Global Head of Digital Asset Strategy at HSBC, will join Marketnode’s Board of Directors. Ian Glasner, Group Head of Innovation, Ventures, and Digital Partnerships at HSBC, expressed the bank’s commitment to building a robust multi-asset digital infrastructure across their markets, helping customers enter the world of digital assets safely and securely.
Pradyumna Agrawal, Managing Director, Investment (Blockchain) at Temasek, highlighted the significance of the Series A investment in validating Marketnode’s pioneering effort in a promising and rapidly growing area. He added that the funding would help accelerate industry adoption as they collectively shape a digital future for the capital markets industry.
Rehan Ahmed, President of Marketnode, welcomed HSBC as the lead strategic investor in their Series A round, emphasizing the natural extension of their collaboration across multiple asset classes since Marketnode’s inception.
He described the partnership between Marketnode’s financial market infrastructure (FMI) operational expertise and HSBC’s market-leading global platform as a unique opportunity to shape the next generation of trusted and neutral market infrastructure.
The investment comes at a time when Singapore is applying more regulations for crypto on top of its stringent licensing regime.
Last month, Singapore authorities announced an expansion of the scope of companies regulated under its payment services rules to supervise digital asset firms in anti-money laundering and user protection.
