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Symbiont
Sometimes the securities services innovation scene can seem like a bit of a ‘ what have you done for me lately ?’ business , whereby relative inactivity can be mistaken for a lack of progress . For Symbiont , nine years of vision , build and patiently wading through the complexities of capital markets innovation have resulted in a wave of partnerships and milestones of late . This began with a landmark collaboration with State Street and the custodian ’ s cherished asset management client , Vanguard , whereby they completed the margin calculation process for a live trade of a 30-day foreign exchange forward contract through the use of distributed ledger technology ( DLT ). The live trade for foreign exchange forward contracts leveraged blockchain technology and smart contracts in December 2021 in what State Street called a “ monumental industry initiative ” to digitise the margining process around collateralised foreign exchange forward contracts that will reduce its customers ’ operational challenges . “ This relationship with State Street , it ’ s the opening of the floodgates ,” said Mark Smith , CEO of Symbiont . “ It ’ s the first time a real custodian has put a flag in the ground , saying : ‘ we ' re doing this to make this world better ’ and I hope that ' s just the beginning .” Led by FX specialist and serial entrepreneur Smith , Symbiont was an early pioneer of smart contracts and distributed ledger technologies . It ’ s Assembly blockchain is an enterprise platform developed to remove
ELEVATOR PITCH
Symbiont is a technology company focused on solving complex global finance problems using a novel enterprise blockchain solution .
operational friction from the lifecycle of financial instruments , while enabling real-time data sharing with optimal security and privacy . Smith and his team have looked to build an enterprise product that is compliant , can scale and has the proper privacy and confidentiality features . He believed , from the outset , that this was the way the start-up could empower incumbent financial services providers to take advantage of – what in 2013 was seen as a ‘ powerful new , early game technology ’ – and enable them to transform their business into the digital future . “ What we gravitated towards was the concept that we ' re building fintech to solve real problems in existing financial markets and economies ,” says Smith . “ Crypto was all about creating new economies - each new network is a new economy around that token , with the only reason it exists being to increase the value of the token through the use of the network . That ' s a whole different kind of thesis and model than we ' re trying to do .” Symbiont has also worked with Citi , BNY Mellon and Nasdaq , and more recently SWIFT , whereby the cooperative worked with seven securities players as part of a new pilot project to further automate and increase the accuracy of the corporate action workflow by delivering data in near real time . As part of the pilot , Swift is trialling Symbiont ’ s proprietary technology platform , Assembly , using its smart contracts and blockchain capabilities . When asked : why do you believe your objective has resonated with the securities services industry ? Symbiont stated : “ We are increasing efficiencies , lowering costs , broadening transparency and eliminating pain points in previously opaque industries .”
Notable partners and collaborators : State Street , SWIFT , BNY Mellon , Citi , Nadsaq , Vanguard .
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