Eurex Clearing is to integrate native digital instruments into its existing clearing framework, in a move the Deutsche Börse-owned clearing house says will make it the world’s first hybrid central counterparty (CCP).
Under the model, traditional and digital business will sit under a single clearing framework, rulebook and risk model, allowing market participants to access digital markets through their existing clearing relationships and infrastructure.
The initiative connects directly with Clearstream, which is working to transform its central securities depository services to handle both traditional and digital assets through its Clearstream Digital Infrastructure.
Unveiled in June and being rolled out over the course of 2026 and 2027, Clearstream’s platform is designed to allow clients to move securities and cash across traditional and blockchain ecosystems, including wholesale central bank money via the Eurosystem’s Pontes solution, which supported the ESM’s recent first live digital native bond issuance.
Native digital instruments, including issuances by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), will become tradable in the GC Pooling segment of Eurex Repo, cleared by Eurex Clearing and accepted as eligible margin collateral. They will also become eligible collateral within the ECB GC Pooling basket, giving them access to the same secondary market as their traditional equivalents.
Eurex Clearing said clients will not need to build bespoke connectivity, manage separate risk models or put new legal agreements in place to take part, with the approach designed to concentrate liquidity rather than split it across standalone digital venues.
Laura Bayley, chief executive of Eurex Clearing, said: “The future of financial markets is hybrid. Instead of creating isolated digital islands that fragment liquidity and trap capital, Eurex Clearing is building a bridge between both ecosystems.
“Our clients can seamlessly trade, clear, and finance native digital assets through the clearing relationship they already have – backed by one set of rules, one risk model, and one deep liquidity pool.”
Eurex Clearing has also been involved in earlier work on digital collateral, having mobilised €77.5 million of DLT-native commercial paper issued by the European Investment Bank alongside DekaBank, through Clearstream’s collateral infrastructure and the Eurosystem Collateral Management System.