Project Guardian report outlines design principles for shared ledger settlement, potentially cutting transaction costs by $50 billion.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Ant International have co-led the release of a new report under Singapore’s Project Guardian initiative, outlining how tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledger technology can transform foreign exchange (FX) settlement and cross-border payments.
The report, now published on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) website, highlights industry principles, technical specifications, and emerging use cases designed to promote faster, more cost-effective international payments.
The report is the outcome of collaboration between ISDA, Ant International, and other members of the Project Guardian FX workstream, including BNY, HSBC, OCBC, and the Global Financial Markets Association’s Global Foreign Exchange Division.
It focuses on the technical and legal infrastructure needed to support 24/7 FX settlement using tokenised deposits, and proposes a standardised framework to support global interoperability.
Tokenised bank liabilities are digital representations of funds held by regulated financial institutions. When combined with a shared ledger — a synchronised digital infrastructure across participating banks — they enable payments to be settled in real time, across multiple currencies, at any time of day.
According to the report, the adoption of such systems could reduce cross-border transaction costs by as much as 12.5%, potentially saving global businesses over US$50 billion (S$64.2 billion) annually by 2030.
Current challenges in cross-border payments include fragmented settlement windows, platform mismatches, and inconsistent time zones. These friction points contribute to an estimated US$120 billion in annual transaction fees.
Use cases developed by the working group demonstrate that tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledgers can drastically reduce settlement time from hours to seconds, while improving security, efficiency, and transparency.
Ant International’s blockchain-based Whale platform was also highlighted, as it has been used to implement a global treasury use case for real-time, multi-currency clearing and settlement. Over one-third of Ant International’s wholesale transactions are now processed on-chain using tokenised deposits.
“We are honoured to help shape industry adoption of tokenisation with ISDA under Project Guardian’s leadership,” said Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International. “In addition to faster, cheaper and more secure cross-border payments, tokenisation programmes are translating technology into more competitive FX rates and faster FX settlement for customers.”
Scott O’Malia, Chief Executive of ISDA, said: “Tokenisation has the potential to revolutionise cross-
border payments and FX settlements, significantly increasing efficiencies and reducing costs and
risks.
Kenneth Gay, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said: “The use of tokenised bank liabilities marks a
milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments and FX settlements.”
Further collaboration is required to integrate tokenised systems with existing banking infrastructure and extend support to other digital asset types. Industry-wide adoption will depend on achieving interoperability, strong governance frameworks, and shared global standards.
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