Latest news with #MMFs
Toronto Star
29-07-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Abaxx to Pilot Digital Title Framework for Tokenized-USD Money Market Funds, Targeting Legal Finality and Identity Gaps in Real-Time Collateral
TORONTO, July 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ('Abaxx' or the 'Company'), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd., the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, 'Abaxx Exchange' and 'Abaxx Clearing'), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announces the completion of a pre-feasibility study on the use of tokenized money market funds (MMFs) as financial collateral using Abaxx's proprietary ID++ and Private Digital Title technologies. Building on its Q4 2025 gold-backed collateral pilot, the Company is now advancing discussions with institutional partners to conduct a second pilot transaction in Q4 2025. This next phase will test how tokenized MMF shares — when paired with Abaxx's legal and identity infrastructure — can serve as legally enforceable, real-time collateral in regulated markets. The results will inform a full feasibility study and lay the foundation for the Abaxx USD Trust Network, as further detailed below.
Hamilton Spectator
29-07-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Abaxx to Pilot Digital Title Framework for Tokenized-USD Money Market Funds, Targeting Legal Finality and Identity Gaps in Real-Time Collateral
TORONTO, July 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) ('Abaxx' or the 'Company'), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd., the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, 'Abaxx Exchange' and 'Abaxx Clearing'), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announces the completion of a pre-feasibility study on the use of tokenized money market funds (MMFs) as financial collateral using Abaxx's proprietary ID++ and Private Digital Title technologies. Building on its Q4 2025 gold-backed collateral pilot , the Company is now advancing discussions with institutional partners to conduct a second pilot transaction in Q4 2025. This next phase will test how tokenized MMF shares — when paired with Abaxx's legal and identity infrastructure — can serve as legally enforceable, real-time collateral in regulated markets. The results will inform a full feasibility study and lay the foundation for the Abaxx USD Trust Network, as further detailed below. Key Features of the Second Pilot 'The race to tokenize MMFs and the growth of stablecoins have rightly focused on efficiency gains, but they often sidestep the most critical challenge: the legal certainty required by regulated holders,' said Josh Crumb, Founder and CEO of Abaxx. 'The ability to reduce settlement risk in atomic Delivery-Versus-Payment ('DvP') transactions and unlock capital trapped in legacy T+1 cycles is transformative, but those benefits are an illusion without a trusted identity layer and enforceable title. The Abaxx Private Digital Title framework is architected to solve this by embedding identity and legal clarity directly into the asset — creating a truly native digital instrument with the integrity required to serve as high-quality collateral in institutional markets. This pilot is the next step in our mission to build smarter markets.' A New Framework for Digital Collateral Abaxx's vision is to re-engineer the relationship between financial assets and risk management in global markets. To support this transformation, the Company has developed multi-layered market infrastructure designed to connect tokenized and traditional assets to collateral workflows — anchored by Abaxx's regulated market infrastructure and proprietary ID++ Technology and suite of console applications, including Verifier+, Abaxx Messenger, Abaxx Sign, and Abaxx Drive. This integrated infrastructure addresses two persistent barriers to real-time finance: limited collateral mobility and the high cost of managing counterparty and legal risk across borders — the default condition when transacting in global commodity markets. Abaxx's Private Digital Title system embeds legal ownership and verifiable identity directly into the asset through digitally-issued documents of title, offering an enforceable alternative to tokenization models that rely on centralized issuance, new legal constructs, or shared ledgers treated only as mirrors of off-chain records. These architectural decisions are designed to reduce legal and operational friction, shorten onboarding timelines, and support more flexible use of real-world assets as collateral, without compromising regulatory compliance or transaction confidentiality. This approach directly addresses the challenges highlighted by the Futures Industry Association ('FIA') which notes the cleared derivatives industry is at an 'inflection point' in adopting tokenization to accelerate collateral mobility. As the FIA's recent whitepaper underscores, achieving real impact requires solutions that solve for legal finality and regulatory interoperability², goals that the Abaxx USD Trust Network is designed to meet through a privacy-preserving, real-time cryptographic legal agreement registry. 'BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently called the tokenization of stocks and bonds the future of markets³ — and he's right. But that future depends on solving two core challenges: identity authenticity and legal certainty,' said Ian Forester, Head of Product at Abaxx. 'Trends in digital assets tend to focus on building the next ledger, but the core challenge of tokenization isn't ledger integrity, it's liquidity. By perfecting legal claims within the asset itself, our Private Title framework allows for the creation of a composable 'real time USD' asset secured by tamper-proof, identity-based signatures that are agnostic to the underlying ledger. This approach not only preserves the rights of parties to transact in private, it builds liquidity through trust that is backed by the rule of law.' About the Pilot and Feasibility Study The planned Q4 2025 pilot for the Abaxx USD Trust Network will test the full lifecycle of a tokenized MMF share, with the objective of demonstrating atomic settlement and establishing unequivocal legal finality. The pilot will exclusively use MMFs that are compliant with SEC Rule 2a-7, target a stable $1.00 value per unit, and invest in high-quality assets like U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements. Findings of the pilot will inform a full feasibility study and may deliver a comprehensive legal and operational package for regulators and asset management partners, subject to regulatory approvals and compliance requirements. ¹ 'Collateral supply, demand and mobility,' Securities Finance Times, June 5, 2024. ² 'Accelerating the velocity of collateral: The potential for tokenisation in cleared derivatives markets,' Futures Industry Association, June 2025. ³ 'Tokenization of the market, from stocks to bonds to real estate is coming, says BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, if we can solve one problem,' CNBC, April 12, 2025. About Abaxx Technologies Abaxx Technologies is building Smarter Markets: markets empowered by better tools, better benchmarks, and better technology to drive market-based solutions to the biggest challenges we face as a society, including the energy transition. In addition to developing and deploying financial technologies that make communication, trade, and transactions easier and more secure, Abaxx is the majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte. Ltd., the owner of Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing, and the parent company of wholly owned subsidiary Abaxx Spot Pte. Ltd., the operator of Abaxx Spot. Abaxx Exchange delivers the market infrastructure critical to the shift toward an electrified, low-carbon economy through centrally-cleared, physically-deliverable futures contracts in LNG, carbon, battery materials, and precious metals, meeting the commercial needs of today's commodity markets and establishing the next generation of global benchmarks. Abaxx Spot modernizes physical gold trading through a physically-backed gold pool in Singapore. As the first instance of a co-located spot and futures market for gold, Abaxx Spot enables secure electronic transactions, efficient OTC transfers, and is designed to support physical delivery for Abaxx Exchange's physically-deliverable gold futures contract, providing integrated infrastructure to deliver smarter gold markets. For more information, visit | | | | For more information about this press release, please contact: Steve Fray, CFO Tel: +1 647-490-1590 Media and investor inquiries: Abaxx Technologies Inc. Investor Relations Team Tel: +1 246 271 0082 E-mail: ir@ Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release includes certain 'forward-looking statements' and 'forward-looking information' (collectively, 'forward-looking statements') within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as 'believe', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'project', 'intend', 'expect', 'may', 'will', 'plan', 'should', 'would', 'could', 'target', 'purpose', 'goal', 'objective', 'ongoing', 'potential', 'likely' or the negative thereof or similar expressions. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements regarding the key features and potential results, benefits and market impact of the second pilot transaction, The advancement of discussion with institutional partners to conduct a second pilot transaction in Q4 2025 and a full feasibility study, the scope of the next phase of testing, the potential for the results of second pilot transaction to information a full feasibility study and lay the foundation for the Abaxx USD Trust Network, statements with respect to the Abaxx USD Trust Network and the potential solutions and access this will provide, that the tokenization of stocks and bonds are the next generation of markets and the dependency on the foregoing is based on the identified challenges, that the second pilot will exclusively use MMFs that are compliant with SEC Rule 2a-7, target a stable $1.00 value per unit, and invest in high-quality assets like U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, that the findings of the pilot may deliver a comprehensive legal and operational package for regulators and asset management partners, the Company's business strategies, plans, and objectives, the development of new markets and products, expectations regarding Abaxx's partnerships, demand for Abaxx's products and market adoption and regulatory approvals. Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analyses and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Such factors impacting forward-looking information include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; Abaxx's limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for Abaxx to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on Abaxx and the industry; acquiring and maintaining regulatory approvals for Abaxx's products and operations; the ability to list Abaxx's securities on stock exchanges in a timely fashion or at all; network security risks; the ability of Abaxx to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of Abaxx include but are not limited to: operations in foreign jurisdictions; protection of intellectual property rights; contractual risk; third-party risk; clearinghouse risk; malicious actor risks; third- party software license risk; system failure risk; risk of technological change; dependence of technical infrastructure; and changes in the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labor and international travel and supply chains, and the risk factors identified in the Company's most recent management discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR+. Abaxx has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of Abaxx's normal course of business. Abaxx cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. In addition, although Abaxx has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Abaxx has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Abaxx as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Abaxx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and information. Cboe Canada does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
Straits Times
28-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Airwallex launches investment product to help businesses grow idle cash
Find out what's new on ST website and app. The new Airwallex Yield product is aimed at small business customers or customers on Airwallex. SINGAPORE - Fintech firm Airwallex has unveiled a new investment product aimed at helping businesses earn returns on unused funds, entering a competitive market where rivals also court companies seeking better yields on spare cash. Rolled out on July 28, the product invests in money market funds (MMFs) and offers returns of up to 1.29 per cent per annum for Singapore-dollar funds and up to 3.84 per cent for US-dollar funds. The new Airwallex Yield product is aimed at small business customers or customers on Airwallex, said Mr Arnold Chan, Airwallex's general manager for Asia-Pacific excluding China. 'Airwallex Yield will allow businesses to earn returns on their surplus Singapore-dollar and US-dollar funds by investing through investment-grade money market funds, while maintaining access to both liquidity and control over their cash,' he told The Straits Times. A MMF invests in a range of liquid, low-risk assets, which typically include cash and short-term instruments such as treasury bills, commercial paper, and certificates of deposit. Airwallex's yield product invests in several Goldman Sachs and Fullerton funds. The Singapore launch follows earlier rollouts in Australia and Hong Kong. Since its November 2023 debut in Australia, the product has attracted about US$200 million (S$256 million) in funds. Airwallex offers a suite of financial products for businesses, including global business accounts, cross-border payments and expense management tools. The firm said it is seeing a huge demand from customers in Singapore who want to earn returns while maintaining flexibility to move funds quickly. Over 80 per cent of its annual revenue comes from customers who use more than one Airwallex service and the firm expects to cross-sell the new product to its existing customers. The firm also plans to target technology companies, especially those backed by venture capital and holding substantial idle cash reserves, as well as e-commerce players and retailers that receive customer payments upfront but pay suppliers later. By investing these interim funds, they can generate additional returns. Trading businesses involved in importing and exporting can also benefit by putting their idle cash or working capital to work, said Mr Chan. He added that withdrawals are flexible and settlement is typically completed within one business day, provided that cut-off times were met. Airwallex joins a competitive field in Singapore, where firms like StashAway and Syfe already offer MMF products to businesses seeking returns on idle cash with flexible access. Most MMFs in Singapore invest in fixed deposits, government securities and commercial papers. Airwallex customer GlobalTix, a ticketing software and distribution platform for the tourism sector, said that it considers flexibility, liquidity, tenure and yield as key factors when deciding how to deploy idle cash. GlobalTix's co-founder and chief operating officer Chan Chee Kong said fixed deposits are less suitable for the company because they tie up funds for a set period – limiting access when quick payments to suppliers or vendors are needed. 'I need to have that flexibility around moving my funds in and out,' he said. Another key consideration is managing different currencies given the global nature of the firm's business, he added. He noted that Airwallex is not the first to offer the solution, adding that GlobalTix currently uses a similar offering from a competitor. However, if GlobalTix were to use Airwallex's new offering, it would benefit from having all its financial tools on a single platform – making it easier to monitor and manage its cash flow, he said. Lovet, a homegrown fashion brand and Airwallex customer, is considering the new yield product, its director Lee Wei Leong said. With interest rates declining, he said the company is exploring options. 'If we leave our money in a normal savings account, the value of the money is going to be eroded by inflation.' As an SME without venture capital backing, liquidity is key. If Lovet were to open a new outlet, it will need to be able to cash out quickly to fund the expansion, he added.
New Indian Express
13-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Empowered rural women drive change in Vizianagaram
The awards were presented to the two MMFs on August 15 in New Delhi, with Gantyada MMF receiving a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and Rajam MMF receiving Rs 1 lakh. Women in these areas have improved and established themselves as organized societies known as Self Help Groups (SHGs) by providing financial and fiscal services, skill training, production of eco-friendly goods, and linkage of market facilities. Gantyada MMF has been selected as the state-level best MMF for three consecutive years, including 2024, when it received the nationwide top and best society award. The dedicated work of every member of the Gantyada and Rajam mandals CLF/SHGs satisfied the parameters fixed for the selection of the 'Atmanirbhar Sangathan Puraskar-2024.' Apart from financial and fiscal services, the two MMFs are creating awareness among women and children at the village level on various social and legal issues. Minister for MSME, SERP, NRI Relations, and Empowerment, Kondapalli Srinivas, praised the achievement, stating that it is a sign of sustainable development in rural areas. SHGs, MMFs District Project Manager, A Chiranjivi, attributed the success to the collective work of the women. At the same time, the MMF presidents for Rajam and Gantyada, D Bhavani and K Anasuya, expressed their dedication to eradicating poverty, unemployment, and underemployment.
Business Mayor
09-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
It was remarkably resilient repo wot won it
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. How bad was the Treasury market turbulence last month? It was 'real and significant' and 'unnerving', but it wasn't chaotic or even 'exceptional' — thanks largely to funding markets remaining remarkably durable. That's the conclusion of Roberto Perli, the manager of the New York Federal Reserve's System Open Market Account, who gave an interesting speech on the subject today. A word of warning. This was initially supposed to be a quick write-up of a speech on a timely topic, but soon became a bit of an opus. If things like IORB, MMFs, ON RRP and SRF make you want to self-harm, then please leave and enjoy your weekend. But this stuff is pretty important — and interesting! — so we hope you stick around. As you may have read here and elsewhere, Treasuries went a bit weird last month, sinking alongside everything else. No one likes that. After all, Treasuries are supposed to be the world's best haven when everything else is looking sickly. However, as Perli noted, while the US government bond market's liquidity deteriorated sharply in mid-April, it still continued to function. That is a sharp contrast to what we saw in March 2020, when the Treasury market nearly completely froze. This is obviously largely because Covid-19 was a far bigger economic and financial shock than President Donald Trump's 'liberation day'. But it is also just as much because 'funding liquidity remained plentiful', according to Perli: . . . Although liquidity in Treasury cash markets became strained in early April, those markets continued to function, in part because of the resilience of funding liquidity in the Treasury repo market. That resilience, even amid heightened yield volatility, likely prevented the unwind of certain shorter-term relative value trades, which would have exacerbated market dislocations. And funding liquidity resilience was likely helped by the robust rate control framework that the Federal Reserve has put in place. For example, although Perli reckons the swaps spread trade unwind had a big impact on Treasuries, he argues that the now-infamous basis trade was the dog that didn't really bark. While the Treasury basis trade stood at an estimated $1tn at the end of March 2025 — much bigger than when it caused carnage in March 2020 — there was no massive forced unwind this time because repo markets remained calm: One factor that could lead to a rapid unwind of the basis trade is substantial repo rate volatility or a persistent increase in repo rates, which could in turn increase the cost of financing the position and therefore make it unprofitable. But this by and large did not happen in April since repo rates were fairly stable and dealers remained willing and able to intermediate. As a result, according to Desk staff's estimates, the basis remained relatively stable. This stands in sharp contrast to March 2020, when the basis jumped by about 100 basis points and the unwinding of basis trades was likely an important contributor to the sharp dislocation in the Treasury market we observed at that time. Here we want to shoot in a pedantic point, because the pendulum has probably swung too far from blaming the basis trade for every ill that afflicts markets to exonerating it completely from absolutely everything. Just because repo markets were resilient and the basis between cash Treasuries and Treasury futures remained reasonably stable, it doesn't necessarily mean that at least some hedge funds didn't ratchet back their basis trades when volatility spiked. Alphaville knows of at least one hedge fund that pretty much got out of the trade in early April, and has heard enough colour from prime dealers and buyside traders to conclude that there really were some chunky basis trade unwinding going on. It was just controlled and orderly. Read More China's real intent behind its stimulus inflection Anyway, Perli rightly points out that this shows just how vitally important short-term funding markets are to the US government bond market, because of the growing importance of highly leveraged hedge fund strategies. When funding liquidity remains stable, as it did in early April, it is less likely that a deterioration of market liquidity will spiral into market dysfunction. This is because market participants can still finance their transactions, and arbitrage does not break down. In other words, because of the widespread presence of leveraged investors in the Treasury market, funding liquidity reinforces market liquidity. So what does this all mean? Well, the Federal Reserve's toolkit to influence money markets is even more important these days. Or as Perli puts it: Funding liquidity is more likely to remain plentiful if money market rates are not too volatile, which, in turn, depends on the availability and efficacy of monetary policy implementation tools for ensuring rate control within the Federal Reserve's ample reserves framework. One of those tools is the overnight reverse repo facility — or ON RRP among friends. ON RRP allows money market funds and other important short-term funding market players to park money at the Fed. It is (along with interest on reserve balances), one of the main tools used to control interest rates in the abundant reserve era. But the main one that Perli discussed today was a newer one called the Standing Repo Facility. This is a permanent and powerful programme that lets banks use Treasuries and agency debt as collateral for short-term loans, and came after a big repo blow-up in 2019. Although priced a little higher than where the Fed sets interest rates, there's less of a stigma attached than hitting up the discount window. And because banks can also use the facility on behalf of clients, such as money market funds, it's a great way of dampening repo market pressures. Perli's team now wants to strengthen the SRF to make sure it can continue to ensure that funding markets remain well-behaved. In March, the NY Fed began testing early morning settlements alongside the existing afternoon settlements, and these seem to have gone well: Our market outreach following the March quarter-end revealed that primary dealers see the early-settlement SRF operations as an enhancement that increases the likelihood that the SRF will be used when economically convenient to do so. This is especially true for non-U.S.-bank-affiliated primary dealers, though this group is relatively small and accounts for only about a tenth of primary dealer repo borrowing. Dealers also reported that early settlement lowers hurdle rates — that is, the rate in excess of the SRF rate they are willing to pay in the market before choosing to access the SRF. This is all encouraging feedback. Based on it, the Desk plans on making early-settlement SRF auctions part of the regular SRF daily schedule, at some point in the not-too-distant future. These early-settlement auctions, combined with the current afternoon auctions, will enhance the effectiveness of the SRF as a tool for monetary policy implementation and market functioning. That's all good stuff, but tbqh Alphaville doesn't feel entirely comforted by the fact that the health of the world's biggest and most systemic market increasingly rests on short-term funding conditions, given how fickle money markets can be. We also have some very specific issues with the SRF — but that will have to be a matter for a future post. Further reading: — How the Treasury market got hooked on hedge fund leverage (FT) — Recent Developments in Treasury Market Liquidity and Funding Conditions (NYFRB)
