TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 25. Blockchain-based solutions could help address cross-border liquidity constraints, improve collateral mobility and facilitate institutional investment in emerging markets, Rajesh Sabari, Chief Commercial Officer at Liminal Custody, said, Trend’s special correspondent reports from Tashkent.
He made the remarks during the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum.
According to Sabari, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the B2B segment continue to face constraints related primarily to compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. “With the emergence of regulated stablecoin issuers and fully reserve-backed instruments such as Circle, we are seeing increased traction. However, the ‘last mile’ challenge in terms of cross-border liquidity in emerging markets has yet to be fully addressed,” he said.
Sabari noted that the actual cost of a cross-border transaction should be assessed across its entire chain rather than based solely on the advertised onshore fee. “When working with regulated payment service providers, pre-transaction screening, sanctions screening, AML controls and compliance with the Travel Rule need to be embedded into the transaction chain,” he said.
He also highlighted potential applications of blockchain for institutional participants, including banks, financial institutions, traditional trustees and capital market players.
According to Sabari, for these institutions the initial use case may be less about cross-border payments and more about improving collateral mobility, as significant amounts of capital can be pre-funded and remain locked up. “This is where blockchain can provide greater asset mobility. For example, tokenized debt instruments, which most treasurers hold, can be moved much faster and deployed through programmable logic,” he said.
Another potential application is SME lending in emerging markets, particularly by providing foreign institutional investors with greater access to local assets.
Sabari said that entering emerging markets can involve significant administrative and other barriers, while blockchain could facilitate the placement of identity and other relevant information on-chain. “This does not mean that blockchain immediately eliminates all liquidity concerns. However, it makes it easier to bring identity and other relevant data on-chain, helping reduce the risk premium that institutional investors assign to foreign assets,” he said.
He added that Liminal Custody is focused on bringing institutional policy controls, including whitelisting, key management and asset segregation, onto blockchain-based infrastructure. “The goal is to provide on-chain a framework comparable to the one they operate under within a banking charter or payment service provider license,” Sabari said.
