Texture Capital is preparing to launch an alternative trading system which chief executive Richard Johnson believes will be the first regulated ATS for securities tokens in the US.

It is also one of few companies licensed by FINRA and the US Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker dealer for digital asset securities, according to Texture Capital. In January 2025 Texture Capital said it had integrated with the Canton Network, a privacy-enabled, public blockchain network designed specifically for institutional assets.

Johnson told Markets Media: “We are working with a large global investment bank for an issuance they are putting on Canton in the first quarter of this year, so we might be trading that by the second quarter.”

The Canton Network describes itself as the financial industry’s first and only public chain that can achieve on-chain privacy, control, and interoperability making it the most suitable network for institutional assets. Privacy is programmable so it is guaranteed that only relevant people have access to data. It was initially built on technology from Digital Asset, the enterprise blockchain provider and the network’s controls, governance, and app development have been open-sourced and decentralized.

Johnson said Texture Capital has been impressed with Canton’s ability to develop an ecosystem for large financial institutions ranging from investment banks to asset managers.

“Canton will support more high quality institutional assets, and we want to be at the center of that,” added Johnson.

By the end of this year, Texture Capital expects to have a variety of tokens trading on the ATS if assets have been put onchain.

One challenge in the tokenization ecosystem has been the inability to trade tokens in a regulated environment and the absence of secondary liquidity. As more real world assets (RWAs) are tokenized and put onchain, secondary trading will become increasingly important. Texture’s ATS will facilitate the matching and execution of orders in securities tokenized on the Canton Network between institutional investors and other participants.

Eric Saraniecki, co-founder and head of network strategy at Digital Asset, said in a statement: “Texture Capital’s integration, and their plans to launch tokenization and trading services on Canton, highlight the growing strength and diversity of our ecosystem.”

The ATS will operate an auction system, rather than a lit order book, and the initial version will settle in traditional fiat currency.

However, Johnson said the aim is to quickly incorporate forms of digital cash, which could include tokenized Treasury products or stablecoins. He said: “Everyone wants atomic settlement.”

Blockchains allow atomic settlement, which is the simultaneous release of cash and securities at a predetermined time, once all the relevant conditions have been met.

Johnson expects the ATS will initially match natural buyers and sellers but, over time, market makers will come to the venue, especially if liquidity increases.

In addition, Texture’s registered transfer agent will maintain the official record of securities ownership for tokenized securities issued on the Canton Network. Texture received the regulatory license for its digital transfer agent license in the summer of 2024, although the service has not yet launched.

Transfer agents are required by regulation to perform functions such as recording ownership of securities and transactions and recording corporate actions, such as dividend payments, which can be programmed on blockchains using smart contracts.

Johnson said: “We are trying to blend in as much blockchain as we can in the transfer agent business.”

Collateral mobility

Texture Capital highlighted in a blog that having regulated digital securities infrastructure such as ATSs and blockchain-enabled transfer agents can help improve collateral mobility.

The blog said: “Texture Capital and other companies are working on initiatives like this, and we expect to see significant progress in 2025, riding on the wave of a crypto-friendly administration.”

The acceptance of tokenized collateral could allow market participants to move assets around the globe as quickly as crypto, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, which would decrease margin requirements and improve capital efficiency. Boston Consulting Group has estimated that the adoption of blockchain in capital markets could free up ‘well beyond’ $100bn in collateral, according to the blog, which could then be used for trading.

In November 2024 the Global Markets Advisory Committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission recommended the use of non-cash collateral through the utilization of blockchain and tokenization.

“The future of tokenized collateral holds immense promise; by enabling banks, brokers, traders and other market participants to seamlessly move assets from one market to another, across the globe on a 24/7 basis, significant capital can be freed up and reallocated to more profitable activities,” added Texture Capital. “It will also represent an important step towards adoption of blockchain and crypto among TradFi institutions.”

The current US administration is more crypto-friendly and likely to introduce regulation which will allow traditional institutions to be more active in the sector. For example, the SEC has repealed its SAB 121 ruling which required custodians to recognise all digital assets as liabilities on their balance sheets, and imposed large capital costs. The repeal paves the way for regulated banks to hold clients’ digital assets in custody, which is critical for institutional investors in traditional finance (TradFI) to enter the new markets.

Johnson argued that Texture Capital is not competing with TradFi, but wants to partner with institutions who source assets to put onchain, by providing digital asset expertise, technology and relationships.

“I think we have an advantage in being an independent firm who can be the digital asset infrastructure that everyone can utilize, both inside and outside the Canton network,” he said.

Structured finance

In February 2025 Texture Capital announced a strategic partnership with technology provider Intain to deliver a fully digital market infrastructure for structured finance investments and administration. The partnership integrates IntainMARKETS, Intain’s blockchain and AI-powered platform, with Texture Capital’s ATS to creating an end-to-end solution for the issuance, trading, and lifecycle management of structured finance products.

Working with verification agents, more than two hundred thousand loans have been certified with IntainAI according to the firm, which can help bring assets onchain and then connect to the capital markets for financing. In addition, more than $15bn in asset-backed transactions are administered on Intain platforms.