DRW, Marex Execute First On-Chain OTC Swap Tied to…

Trading firms DRW and Marex have completed the first over-the-counter swap on the Canton Network, using a tokenized S&P Dow Jones Indices credit benchmark as the reference for a derivatives trade managed on blockchain infrastructure.

The total return swap was executed through Derivnex, an institutional derivatives platform built on Canton, and references the iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index. Market-data firm Kaiko tokenized the benchmark and supplies signed official S&P DJI index values that Derivnex uses to value the position across its lifecycle. The three companies described the transaction as the first OTC derivative referencing a fully tokenized index on distributed ledger infrastructure.

What is actually tokenized

The corporate bonds tracked by the iBoxx index were not placed onchain. Kaiko created a digital representation of the benchmark that combines index data with permissions and usage rules, letting authorized participants consume it inside blockchain-based financial workflows while S&P DJI retains control over licensing and intellectual property. That distinction matters because benchmarks underpin a large share of institutional derivatives, where authorized index values are needed to calculate valuations, collateral requirements and payments throughout a swap's life.

Derivnex represented the trade itself as a smart contract holding the transaction terms, giving DRW and Marex a synchronized record for valuations and other lifecycle events instead of separate versions that must be repeatedly reconciled. The platform also incorporates the derivatives industry's Common Domain Model, which standardizes how trades and lifecycle events are represented digitally.

Not everything is onchain yet. The completed transaction covers benchmark distribution, trade representation and the valuation workflow, and Derivnex said future functionality is expected to connect positions with digital cash and collateral, allowing margin movements, collateral transfers and contractual payments to occur in the same environment as the derivatives record. Canton has hosted other institutional experiments: Tradeweb completed a real-time U.S. Treasury transaction there using tokenized securities and cash, DTCC is developing U.S. Treasury tokenization infrastructure on the network, and in August Virtu, M1X and Tradeweb completed an onchain repo using digital sovereign debt as collateral.

The deal extends a partnership between traditional data providers and digital-asset infrastructure firms. S&P Global led a strategic investment in Kaiko in September that extended its Series B funding to $110 million, with participation from BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Nasdaq Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Royal Bank of Canada and Coinbase Ventures. The commercial test will be whether the structure moves beyond a single bilateral transaction and starts to reduce the reconciliation and settlement machinery around institutional derivatives.