Share this article
HSBC to Track $20 Billion in Assets on a Blockchain Next Year
HSBC plans to track $20 billion in private-placement assets on its Digital Vault, allowing investors real-time access to their records.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:44 a.m. Published Nov 27, 2019, 4:20 p.m.
HSBC bank is planning on tracking roughly $20 billion in assets on a blockchain-based custody platform early next year, Reuters reported Wednesday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
According to the report, HSBC intends to move its current paper-based records onto its Digital Vault platform by March 2020, allowing investors to track securities in real-time. The U.K.-based bank will specifically digitize its private placement records, allowing investors to quickly check on holdings.
The records are currently held in paper-based records, according to the report. It can be “tricky and time-consuming” to access them in their present form.
HSBC is only transferring 40 percent of its records onto a blockchain, according to the report. The bank holds $50 billion in assets at present.
While using a blockchain platform is intended to save costs, HSBC “could not quantify the amount that could be saved for the bank or its clients,” Reuters said.
An independent consultant, Windsor Holden, told Reuters that he does not expect any savings will be announced before the latter half of 2021 after the platform is rolled out.
The bank has experimented with blockchain tools for more than a year now. In January, HSBC announced it had settled some 3 million foreign exchange transactions using a blockchain platform, conducting some $250 billion in trades in the process. The sum included another 150,000 in payments.
The bank has also hinted at using blockchain to digitize letters of credit in the past.
HSBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
IMF Flags Stablecoins as Source of Risk to Emerging Markets, Experts Say We Aren't There Yet
The IMF warns that USD-pegged stablecoins could undermine local currencies in emerging markets by facilitating currency substitution and capital outflows.
What to know:
- The IMF warns that USD-pegged stablecoins could undermine local currencies in emerging markets by facilitating currency substitution and capital outflows.
- Despite concerns, experts argue that the stablecoin market is still too small to have a significant macroeconomic impact.
- Stablecoins are primarily used for crypto trading, and their market size remains small compared to global currency flows.
Top Stories
