SBI Digital Markets and Ember Protocol Sign MoU to Explore Institutional RWA Tokenization on Arbitrum
SBI Digital Markets, a subsidiary of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding with investment platform Ember Protocol to explore structuring, tokenizing, and distributing institutional real-world assets (RWAs) onchain. The parties plan to target Arbitrum, an Ethereum-based blockchain platform built by Offchain, for the initial deployment of these products.
The collaboration pairs SBI Digital Markets' regulated financial services, asset origination, structuring, custody, and institutional distribution with Ember Protocol's infrastructure for tokenization, vault deployment, liquidity, and ongoing operations. The scope of the partnership covers the entire product lifecycle, including asset structuring and issuance, investor subscriptions and redemptions, settlement, secondary market access, and cross-network distribution.
CK Ong, acting chief executive officer of SBI Digital Markets, said the firm sought a decentralized finance partner that accounts for asset suitability and investor risk alongside distribution. Ember Protocol co-founder Ibra Barbery stated that the arrangement combines SBI Digital Markets' institutional reach with Ember's onchain infrastructure to develop tokenized investment products.
The companies are targeting Arbitrum first in order to launch into an existing market with active capital and established participants. Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and CEO of Offchain, noted that Arbitrum hosts one of the largest onchain financial ecosystems on Ethereum, offering institutional issuers access to active capital and liquidity from launch.
SBI Digital Markets operates under SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the digital asset arm of SBI Holdings. Parent company SBI Group maintains operations across 26 countries and regions in Asia and Europe, holding Japan's largest securities account customer base and second-largest trading market. The firms noted that the planned collaboration remains subject to forward-looking risks and uncertainties and does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security or digital asset.
Norbert Gehrke
