Chicago-based asset management company Northern Trust recently (9/12) launched a fully automated trading platform for tokenized carbon credits—Norther Trust Carbon Ecosystem™. Based on blockchain technology, the platform can provide institutional customers with a transparent and efficient carbon credit trading environment, allowing purchasers to trade directly with carbon credit developers and cancel carbon credits based on carbon footprints. The first transactions were the sale of carbon credits to institutional buyers by two companies, Water Recovery Systems IP Limited and CUT Carbon Distributed Technologies AG.

Private chain bridging institutions and developers

This breakthrough tokenized carbon credit trading platform introduces Northern Trust’s digital asset platform Northern Trust Matrix Zenith, which integrates the life cycle events of digital assets through a private blockchain, including the creation and trading of tokenized assets. , pricing, custody and reporting, and supports the joint management of tokenized assets and traditional assets. It can further serve as an intermediate bridge between institutional buyers and carbon credit project developers, providing institutional investors with transparent and secure tokenized carbon credits. Transaction pipeline.

Justin Chapman, Northern Trust’s global head of digital assets and financial markets, said:

"Norther Trust Carbon Ecosystem™ is a new milestone in our asset service innovation, demonstrating the parallel management capabilities of digital assets and traditional asset services."

Pete Cherecwich, President of Northern Trust Asset Services, also pointed out that the Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem™ has stimulated the growth of the voluntary carbon market and provided a digital life cycle for carbon credit trading. This seamless and secure settlement experience will effectively increase the trust of carbon credit developers and institutional buyers in the transaction process.

All legal agreements are generated by permissioned smart contracts, which serve as the basis for trading digital carbon credits with fiat currency and ensure that carbon credits can be "retired" when their life cycle expires.

Feedback from carbon credit developers

Northern Trust provides a tokenized solution for voluntary carbon credit trading to project developers such as Water Recovery Systems IP Limited and CUT Carbon Distributed Technologies AG, which are participating in the first batch of transactions.

Christopher Steele, director of Water Recovery Systems IP Limited, believes that the trading platform allows them to perform safe and transparent carbon credit transactions in the voluntary carbon market; and Ethan Gilmore, co-founder of CUT Carbon Distributed Technologies AG, also expressed his enthusiasm for the future ecological development of the Northern Trust Carbon Ecosystem™ Feel the anticipation.

Northern Trust’s Tokenization Progress

In fact, Northern Trust was the first to adopt blockchain technology through private equity fund management as early as 2017; and in 2020, it began to support tokenization and split transactions of bonds. With the launch of the tokenized carbon credit trading platform, Northern Trust will further consolidate its leading position in the tokenized asset market.

What kind of company is Northern Trust?

Founded in Chicago in 1889, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is an asset management company serving businesses, institutions or wealthy families. According to an official press release, as of June 30, 2024, Northern Trust's total assets under custody (Assets Under Custody (AUC)) reached US$16.6 trillion and total assets under management (Assets Under Management (AUM)) reached US$1.5 trillion.