Up up and away? CME and Google Cloud pilot tokenised markets

CME Group, a leading US financial services powerhouse, has unveiled a new pilot program for tokenisation and wholesale payment solutions leveraging Google Cloud’s new Universal Ledger. This strategic move signals the accelerating convergence between traditional finance and digital asset infrastructure.

Google’s Universal Ledger is a private, permissioned distributed ledger specifically engineered for better integration with existing financial systems. It aims to simplify asset and account management while enabling secure, compliant value transfers across trusted networks. While permissioned blockchains offer traditional financial firms a safer entry point into blockchain technology, industry giants like Blackrock view public chains  as preferable to private chains.

Google and CME are targeting a 2026 launch for real-world applications after successfully completing their first integration and testing phase. This milestone positions CME Group—one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges—at the forefront of institutional-grade tokenisation on permissioned ledger technology.

In a press release, CME's Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy referenced new legislative direction which spurred on the collaboration.

As the US President and new Administration have encouraged Congress to create landmark legislation for common-sense market structure, we are pleased to partner with Google Cloud to enable innovative solutions for low-cost, digital transfer of value.

Rohit Bhat, GM of Financial Services at Google Cloud, said the move is part of a broader push to empower institutions to "overcome the complexities inherent in today’s financial systems" and unlock new efficiencies through cloud-native infrastructure.

The partnership coincides with a significant regulatory shift in the US, as the new Administration pushes legislation that could unlock digital asset innovation in regulated markets—building on President Trump’s pro-crypto stance and commitment to a strategic crypto reserve.

The decision to implement a permissioned, private chain rather than a public one will face scrutiny as it shapes future market infrastructure. Critics dismiss private chains as merely expensive databases which lose the benefits of decentralisation, while defenders highlight their controlled environments for managing sensitive trading data. The outcome may help inform a crucial blueprint for how legacy financial institutions can modernize market infrastructure while navigating regulatory requirements.

By Steven Pettigrove, Luke Misthos, Michael Bacina