Catenaa, Thursday, March 27, 2025-CME Group and Google Cloud are partnering to develop solutions for wholesale payments and asset tokenization using Google Cloud’s Universal Ledger (GCUL), the companies announced Tuesday.
The initiative aims to modernize collateral, margin, settlement, and fee payments while aligning with the global shift toward 24/7 trading. The firms have completed initial integration and testing, with plans to begin market trials in 2026.
GCUL, a private distributed ledger, is designed to integrate with traditional financial institutions, facilitating secure, low-cost digital transactions. Rohit Bhat, General Manager of Financial Services at Google Cloud, said the technology could help streamline financial infrastructure and improve efficiency.
CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy emphasized that tokenization represents a major opportunity for financial markets, stating that the partnership will “enable innovative solutions for low-cost, digital transfer of value.”
The asset tokenization market, currently valued at $19.5 billion, has grown 20% in the past month and is projected to reach $276 billion by 2034. However, the companies did not specify which assets they will tokenize during the pilot phase.
Google Cloud has been expanding its presence in blockchain, integrating Bitcoin data since 2018 and launching a Blockchain RPC service in 2024 to enhance decentralized applications.
