Tokenisation is in 'production’ says Eurex Clearing at IDX 2026

Speaking at FIA's International Derivatives Expo (IDX) in London on Wednesday, panellists said tokenisation could help address longstanding inefficiencies in collateral management, particularly for margin transfers outside traditional banking hours.

"I can confirm that we are already beyond the conceptualisation phase, it is in production on our side," said Dmitrij Senko, chief risk officer at Eurex Clearing on a panel at IDX. "DLT facilitates collateral modernisation, so it's being used."

Senko said the focus has now shifted from developing the technology to building the wider ecosystem needed for adoption.

"It's not sufficient for us to create this offering. It's not one company. It's a lot of interaction across users," he said. "It should be avoided that it is increasing fragmentation. The opposite, it should solve the point of fragmentation with more efficient collateral movements."

Legal and regulatory hurdles remain

While tokenisation is already being deployed, Senko said several regulatory questions remain unresolved.

"For truly native tokens, I think their regulatory legal status needs to be specified," he added. "Is it a security? Does it imply settlement finality? Does it comply with custody requirements? Those topics still need to be clarified."

Amy Elliott, managing director and Americas head of exchange-traded derivatives at UBS, said tokenisation could help address longstanding inefficiencies in collateral management.

"The innovation around tokenisation is really exciting," Elliott said on the panel. "In order for this to scale, we need to have trading, settlement and clearing and margin all happening in sequence and at the same time.

"We need to be able to move margin when banks are closed, and that doesn't exist today."

Elliott said the issue extends beyond discussions around 24/7 trading.

"We need to be able to move money as an industry anyway, without 24/7 trading, because we have this problem today with bank holidays happening around the world at different times when clearing houses are expecting to receive margin," she said.

Clearing demands continue to evolve

The discussion formed part of a broader debate around how clearing houses are adapting to rising volatility, changing regulatory expectations and growing demands on liquidity and collateral.

Panellists from Eurex Clearing, CME Group, ICE Clear Europe, UBS and ABN AMRO Clearing said recent episodes of market stress have highlighted the importance of resilient risk management frameworks while also increasing focus on collateral efficiency.

Senko said tokenisation should ultimately be viewed as part of a wider effort to improve the movement of collateral across the financial system.

"It should solve the point of fragmentation with more efficient collateral movements," he said.

The comments came as European exchange and clearing leaders on Tuesday cautioned against a rapid move to 24/7 trading, arguing that market quality, liquidity and collateral infrastructure remain more important than extending trading hours.