Ex-Standard Chartered, UniCredit Executives Introduce Institutional Liquidity Protocol

Uniform Labs has unveiled its premier product, Multiliquid, which serves as an institutional liquidity layer for tokenized financial markets. This innovative protocol allows for the immediate conversion between stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries, improving liquidity for institutional investors.

Key Takeaways

Multiliquid is a new institutional liquidity layer launched by Uniform Labs for tokenized financial markets.
It facilitates instant exchanges between stablecoins and tokenized money market funds, available round-the-clock.
The protocol supports various asset classes, including private equity and real estate.
It's currently operating on Ethereum, with a deployment on Solana anticipated soon.
The product aims to resolve liquidity issues with non-Treasury assets, enabling seamless capital movement in real time.

Uniform Labs, a blockchain infrastructure firm founded by industry leaders from Standard Chartered, UniCredit, and Allica Bank, has recently launched its flagship product, Multiliquid. This new liquidity layer is designed for tokenized financial markets, enabling users to perform instant conversions between stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries.

According to a press release, Multiliquid allows for seamless and immediate exchanges among blue-chip tokenized money market funds and stablecoins, making it available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Institutional investors can efficiently swap stablecoins for tokenized money market funds or other high-quality real-world assets (RWAs) through a single atomic transaction.

The introduction of this product helps eliminate the delays and liquidity issues that have historically hindered institutional treasury operations with tokenized assets. Portfolios can now operate at "blockchain speed" without getting caught up in redemption cycles mandated by asset issuers.

Multiliquid can accommodate a range of RWAs, including tokenized money market funds, private credit, private equity, and real estate. Currently, the protocol is live on the Ethereum network, with plans to expand to Solana shortly.

Supported stablecoins include USDC and USDT, with additional assets expected in the future. The protocol also facilitates tokenized Treasury assets, managed by companies like Wellington Management, ensuring that liquidity is always available, allowing holders to access funds instantly whenever needed.

Multiliquid

Unlocking Liquidity in Non-Treasury Assets

Uniform Labs points out a significant issue: hundreds of billions of dollars in stablecoins remain unutilized as they cannot earn yield directly. Institutions require a compliant solution to pair regulated, yield-bearing assets with the continuous liquidity that stablecoins provide.

Through Multiliquid, stablecoins can retain their status as "pure payment instruments," while yield is derived from tokenized money market funds and other regulated RWAs connected via the Multiliquid swapping layer.

The tokenized RWA market has reportedly exceeded $35 billion; however, many non-Treasury assets still face structural illiquidity, including categories like private credit, private equity, real estate, and commodities.

Multiliquid Assets

Will Beeson, CEO of Uniform Labs and a former co-founder of Standard Chartered’s tokenized asset platform, emphasized, “The tokenization thesis only works if these assets are genuinely liquid.” He noted that most RWAs are just poorly packaged variations of traditional assets. “There’s essentially zero secondary liquidity for most tokenized assets, leaving investors to wait for issuer-controlled redemption windows.” Multiliquid acts as a liquidity layer that allows “on-chain capital markets [to] operate in real time,” according to Beeson.

Mark Garabedian, Director of Digital Assets and Tokenisation Strategy at Wellington Management, stated that “for large asset owners, tokenization only becomes appealing when it seamlessly integrates with existing liquidity and treasury processes." He believes that having infrastructure that reconciles regulated funds with continuously available stablecoin options is crucial for making tokenized portfolios scalable.

Angelo D’Alessandro, COO of Uniform Labs and former CEO of UniCredit’s Buddybank, remarked that “for decades, the institutional finance sector accepted that yield and liquidity don’t coexist. That was never an immutable law—it was simply a limitation of the existing infrastructure.” He posits that Multiliquid represents a new infrastructure capable of facilitating financial transactions at internet speed.