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// Interactive Architecture Diagrams

System Schematics

Live animated diagrams of the settlement infrastructure and post-quantum migration architecture. Click any node for technical specifications. Switch views to toggle between both volumes.

Interactive diagrams
Mining simulation
Regulatory updates
Production deployments
Code examples
Lecture slides — free
Curated reading list
DVP Settlement Flow
From trade execution to final settlement — T+2 to atomic T+0
Click any
component
for details
Speed
LIVE
TRADE LAYER
0 pkts
LIVE
SETTLEMENT LAYER
0 pkts

Proof-of-Work Mining Simulation

Block interval ≈ 10 min
8 competing miners
Hash-chained blocks
Regulatory Updates
Updated quarterly — last revision Q1 2026
Active
DLT Pilot Regime
Regulation (EU) 2022/858 · In force since 23 March 2023
Creates a sandbox for DLT-based market infrastructures (DLT MTF, DLT SS, DLT TSS). First DLT trading and settlement systems admitted Q1 2024. SDX and Euronext applied for registration. The Regime permits temporary exemptions from MiFID II and CSDR to facilitate experimentation — with a maximum threshold of €6bn per operator.
Source: ESMA · ESMA70-8729939477-78 · Last updated: March 2026
Updated
CSDR Refit
Regulation (EU) 2023/2845 · Published 20 December 2023
Amends the Central Securities Depositories Regulation to streamline the authorisation process, revise the settlement discipline framework (buy-in regime made optional at CSD level), and extend passporting. Cash penalties for settlement fails remain mandatory. Entry into application phased through 2025–2026. Directly relevant to the tokenisation of securities and interoperability between DLT systems and traditional CSDs.
Source: Official Journal of the EU · OJ L 2023/2845 · Last updated: January 2026
Ongoing
Digital Euro
ECB Preparation Phase · Launched November 2023
The ECB entered the two-year preparation phase in November 2023 following the conclusion of the investigation phase. The design covers offline capability, programmability limits, holding caps, and privacy-by-design requirements. A legislative proposal from the European Commission (COM/2023/369) is progressing through the ordinary legislative procedure. Issuance decision expected no earlier than 2026.
Source: ECB Digital Euro Hub · Last updated: February 2026
Live Implementations
Selected institutional blockchain deployments in financial market infrastructure
Live since 2021
SIX Digital Exchange
SIX Group AG · Switzerland
Fully regulated digital asset exchange and CSD operating on a permissioned DLT. Issues digital securities natively on-chain with simultaneous DVP settlement in Swiss franc central bank money via the SNB's new settlement infrastructure. First regulated DLT-based CSD in the world.
Permissioned DLTAtomic DVPFINMA regulated
Live since 2020
JPMorgan Onyx / Coin Systems
JPMorgan Chase · USA
JPM Coin processes over $1bn in daily transactions across wholesale payment corridors. The Onyx Digital Assets platform enables tokenised repo, intraday liquidity, and cross-border payments on a permissioned Ethereum variant (Quorum/Besu). Used by BlackRock, Siemens, and other institutional clients.
Ethereum forkTokenised repo$1bn+ daily
Issued 2021
EIB Digital Bond
European Investment Bank · Luxembourg
€100m two-year bond issued natively on a public Ethereum blockchain in April 2021, arranged by Goldman Sachs, Santander, and Société Générale. Settlement in tokenised cash. Followed by a second €100m issuance in November 2022 on a private blockchain with settlement in Banque de France CBDC for wholesale markets.
Public Ethereum€100mCBDC settlement
Pilot
Project Guardian
MAS Singapore · Multi-institution
Monetary Authority of Singapore-led initiative testing open, interoperable networks for wholesale funding markets. Pilot transactions include tokenised bonds, FX, and asset management on public blockchain infrastructure. Participants include JPMorgan, DBS, SBI Digital, HSBC, and Standard Chartered.
PermissionlessCross-borderMulti-asset
Operational
Project mBridge
BIS Innovation Hub · Multi-CBDC
Multi-CBDC platform for cross-border payments connecting the central banks of China (PBoC), Hong Kong (HKMA), Thailand (BOT), UAE (CBUAE), and Saudi Arabia (SAMA). Minimum viable product declared in June 2024. Over $22m in transactions during 2022 pilot. Moves to a new governance model in 2025.
Multi-CBDC5 central banksCross-border
Discontinued 2023
ASX CHESS Replacement
ASX · Australia
Seven-year, A$250m project to replace the ageing CHESS clearing and settlement system with a DLT-based successor (VMware/Digital Asset). Cancelled in November 2022 after persistent delays and a damning independent review. A cautionary case study in the governance and complexity challenges of replacing incumbent market infrastructure.
CancelledA$250mCase study
Code Examples
All examples from the book — updated to match latest library versions
Python
ch14_dvp_settlement.py
Vol I · Chapter 14
Full DVP settlement lifecycle: trade matching, netting, instruction generation, and final settlement confirmation using a minimal Python ledger.
⬒ View code
Solidity
ch15_dvp_contract.sol
Vol I · Chapter 15
EVM-compatible DVP smart contract implementing atomic swap of tokenised securities against stablecoin with escrow logic and settlement finality events.
⬒ View code
Python
ch15_pq_mlkem_demo.py
Vol II · Chapter 15
ML-KEM-768 key encapsulation using the liboqs reference library (FIPS 203). Demonstrates key generation, encapsulation, and decapsulation with timing benchmarks.
⬒ View code
Python
ch15_pq_mldsa_sign.py
Vol II · Chapter 15
ML-DSA-65 digital signature (FIPS 204): key pair generation, signing a settlement instruction, and verification. Includes dual-signature pattern (ECDSA + ML-DSA) for the transition period.
⬒ View code
Python
ch15_pq_hybrid_tls.py
Vol II · Chapter 15
Hybrid X25519 + ML-KEM-768 key exchange simulation. Demonstrates the HKDF concatenation approach and shows wire-size impact on a TLS 1.3 handshake transcript.
⬒ View code
Python
ch15_pq_settlement_ledger.py
Vol II · Chapter 15
Complete post-quantum settlement ledger: ML-DSA-65 signed chain, ECDSA vs ML-DSA benchmark, SLH-DSA archival sealing, and cryptographic agility pattern. ~250 lines of annotated code.
⬒ View code
Slides & Interactives
PDF slides and interactive tools for each chapter — click VIEW to launch the animation
01
How a Trade Settles
VIEW
02
What Goes Wrong
VIEW
03
The Ideal Settlement System
VIEW
04
Distributed Ledger Technology
VIEW
05
Integrity & Cryptography
VIEW
06
Consensus Mechanisms
VIEW
07
Smart Contracts
VIEW
08
Architecture & Design
VIEW
09
Tokenisation
VIEW
10
Regulatory Framework
VIEW
11
Governance
VIEW
12
Implementations
VIEW
13
Limitations
VIEW
14
Python DVP Code
VIEW
15
Solidity DVP Code
VIEW
Bloch Sphere
Apply Hadamard, Pauli, and phase gates to a single qubit — observe the state vector and probability amplitudes
Reading List
Updated quarterly — last revision Q1 2026
Academic Foundations
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Nakamoto, S. (2008)Foundational
Regev, O. — On Lattices, Learning with Errors, Random Linear Codes, and Cryptography
STOC 2005LWE
Micciancio & Regev — Lattice-based Cryptography (survey)
Post-Quantum Cryptography, Springer 2009Survey
Shor, P. — Polynomial-Time Algorithms for Prime Factorization and Discrete Logarithms on a Quantum Computer
SIAM J. Computing 26(5), 1997Essential
Grover, L.K. — A Fast Quantum Mechanical Algorithm for Database Search
STOC 1996Essential
NIST Standards & Specifications
FIPS 203 — Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM)
NIST, August 2024Standard
FIPS 204 — Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA)
NIST, August 2024Standard
FIPS 205 — Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (SLH-DSA)
NIST, August 2024Standard
NIST IR 8413 — Status Report on the Third Round of the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process
NIST, September 2022
NSA CNSA 2.0 — Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0
NSA / CISA, September 2022US Gov
Industry & Infrastructure
BIS — CBDCs: an opportunity for the monetary system
BIS Annual Economic Report, June 2021
ECB — Wholesale CBDC exploration: summary of experiments
European Central Bank, 2024
SWIFT — Quantum-safe cryptography: security considerations for financial institutions
SWIFT, 2023PQC
CPMI-IOSCO — Application of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to stablecoin arrangements
BIS / IOSCO, July 2022
World Economic Forum — Digital Assets, Distributed Ledger Technology, and the Future of Capital Markets
WEF White Paper, 2021
Regulatory Documents
Regulation (EU) 2022/858 — DLT Pilot Regime for market infrastructures
European Parliament & Council, 2022EU Law
Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 — Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)
European Parliament & Council, 2023EU Law
Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 — Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
European Parliament & Council, 2022 · In application from January 2025EU Law
EBA — Guidelines on ICT and security risk management
European Banking Authority, 2019 (updated 2024)
ESMA — Guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers
ESMA, 2021 · Reference for DLT node hosting arrangements