Insight
Dec 2025
Nick Delikaris & Ken DeGiglio
EquiLend 1Source: Transforming Securities Finance Through Distributed Ledger Technology
Reconciliations cost the securities finance industry tens to hundreds of millions of dollars each year. EquiLend 1Source aims to dramatically reduce these costs by delivering a single source of truth powered by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), driving a new era of post-trade modernization and securities lending automation.
Traditional securities finance technology has long relied on manual reconciliations and fragmented systems that can no longer keep up with the pace of global markets. Trading volumes are increasing, settlement cycles are shortening and the demand for operational efficiency and risk reduction continues to rise. To keep up, firms are forced to dedicate enormous resources to back-office functions that should be automated. By leveraging DLT for securities finance, 1Source provides a unified, transparent and efficient framework for managing the entire trade lifecycle, enabling firms to focus on growth instead of reconciliation.
What Is Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
Distributed Ledger Technology is a shared digital infrastructure that allows multiple financial institutions to access and synchronize transaction data in real time without relying on a single centralized system. Blockchain, a form of DLT, underpins many financial innovations today, but its most powerful application may lie beyond cryptocurrencies in improving post-trade automation. In 1Source, every transaction is recorded using smart-contract logic, ensuring consistency, accuracy and data integrity across counterparties. These smart contracts, implemented using Digital Asset’s Daml language, establish a secure and auditable trail of every trade event.
Redefining the Trade Lifecycle
For decades, the securities lending ecosystem has depended on fragmented data and manual oversight to maintain accurate records. DLT is redefining how post-trade processes operate, creating an environment where transactions are validated, confirmed and recorded seamlessly in real time.
With EquiLend 1Source, each securities finance transaction is instantiated through a smart contract capturing the agreed terms from both counterparties. It is layered on top of a firm’s existing books and records system, ensuring alignment of trade terms internally and with counterparties. The contract’s state is securely recorded in the shared ledger, ensuring both sides always work from the same version of record. This unified view eliminates duplicative data entry, manual reconciliation and downstream errors that plague traditional workflows. The result is faster settlement, greater transparency and complete auditability throughout the trade lifecycle.
Powered by the Canton Network
1Source runs on the Canton Network, a distributed ledger with configurable privacy, developed by Digital Asset. Canton provides the secure, synchronized foundation for 1Source’s post-trade infrastructure, allowing real-time data sharing while preserving each participant’s privacy and control over proprietary data. The Canton architecture enables interoperability across financial market systems, linking previously isolated platforms to streamline processes, enhance transparency and improve settlement accuracy.
By leveraging Canton, 1Source facilitates cross-platform data synchronization, reducing discrepancies and manual processes that lead to trade failures. Canton’s “network of networks” design also supports atomic transactions across private and shared ledgers, for example to drive onchain atomic settlement, resolving traditional trade-offs between interoperability, privacy and data sovereignty that have long limited the scalability of distributed ledger solutions in capital markets.
Leading the Future of Post-Trade Modernization
As a global provider serving nearly 200 securities finance firms and processing the majority of global securities lending trades, EquiLend is uniquely positioned to lead the industry’s digital transformation.
By combining DLT, smart contracts and interoperable blockchain technology, 1Source is redefining how firms manage data integrity, contract confirmation and operational efficiency across the post-trade value chain.
To learn more about how EquiLend 1Source can modernize your securities lending operations and help your firm achieve true trade lifecycle automation, contact the 1Source team today.
Ready to Join the Movement?
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