#USA #Pittsburgh #AWS #Tokenization #OpenAssets

OpenAssets Infrastructure Now Available to Banks

OpenAssets, a prominent player in the digital asset infrastructure arena, has unveiled a significant advancement for banking institutions. Banks can now deploy OpenAssets' tokenization infrastructure directly within their dedicated Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts. This opens a new pathway for financial institutions to harness digital asset capabilities while retaining control over their core operations.

Key Features of OpenAssets Deployment

The deployment model allows banks to maintain control over four critical components:

1. Keys: Banks generate and safeguard their own keys, ensuring that access remains within their ecosystem.

2. Data: The infrastructure manages all issuance processes, compliance, and asset servicing records right within the bank's AWS environment. Only essential data, such as token transfers, is maintained on-chain, enhancing privacy and control.

3. Network Choice: Banks are given the flexibility to select the blockchain network for each asset, enabling them to operate across a variety of public and private chains.

4. Branding: Assets can be issued under the bank’s name, reinforcing brand loyalty and trust among customers.

OpenAssets serves as the backbone for infrastructure management, covering a wide range of digital assets including stablecoins, tokenized deposits, bonds, equities, funds, and commodities. It also provides a compliance framework and transfer agent capabilities to track asset ownership efficiently.

Streamlined Risk Management

For a bank's technology and risk management teams, leveraging OpenAssets comes with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification. Additionally, the operation has undergone a SOC 2 Type 2 examination which rigorously evaluates Security, Availability, and Confidentiality. This insight ensures that banks can operate with an optimal assurance of risk management without compromising data integrity.

Banks historically face challenges when building tokenization infrastructure in-house due to extensive IT costs and project management difficulties. A 2012 study by McKinsey and the University of Oxford highlighted the pitfalls of large IT projects, indicating that high-budget projects often experience significant overruns, delivering less value than anticipated. OpenAssets mitigates this risk with a standard deployment model, providing a consistent, repeatable foundation instead of a bespoke infrastructure.

Quick Deployment and Immediate Usage

Notably, banks can commence operations almost immediately. On the day of deployment, banks have the capability to issue their first assets within a test environment. From their unique AWS set-up, teams can manage the entire lifecycle including minting and burning tokens, adding wallets to an allowlist, and facilitating transfers. The operator's console offers real-time views of token supply, user actions, and compliance logs.

Surendra Kalidindi, COO and CTO of OpenAssets, elaborated on the importance of control in tokenization, stating, "A bank's first questions about tokenization are about control where it runs, who holds the keys, who can see the data. We built the deployment so the answer to each one is the bank, leaving only the question of what to issue."

Accessing OpenAssets Infrastructure

Banks interested in this innovative deployment can easily request integration through a private offer available within the AWS Marketplace. OpenAssets also provides onboarding support, ensuring a seamless transition and setup experience for financial institutions.

About OpenAssets

OpenAssets is at the forefront of building advanced infrastructure for digital financial systems. Collaborating with a diverse array of institutions, technology companies, and governments, the firm is committed to modernizing capital markets and contributing to the landscape of tokenization standards alongside entities such as the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust. For further information, visit their website at openassets.to.