The Problem
Cross-border payments between Japan and Korea today involve:- 1-3 business days to settle through correspondent banking chains
- Herstatt risk — one party delivers but the other hasn’t yet
- Multiple intermediaries — 2-4 correspondent banks, each adding fees and latency
- Opaque FX rates — bank’s internal pricing, no competitive bidding
- Fragmented audit trails — SWIFT messages at each hop, no single proof of settlement
The Solution
| Property | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Atomic DvP | Both currency legs settle in a single transaction. All four settlement legs succeed, or all roll back. No counterparty risk, ever. |
| Competitive RFQ | Market makers compete on price via anonymized requests. Best execution is documented and auditable. |
| Privacy by design | Each participant sees only the data they’re authorized to see. Market makers never see sender/receiver identity. |
| Member-owned, operator-less | No standing operator owns the network and no single party — including the Core coordinator — can move assets unilaterally. Settlement requires cryptographic co-signatures from the independent parties. |
Key Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| End-to-end settlement | ~15 seconds |
| Settlement legs per transaction | 4 (atomic) |
| Confirming parties per settlement | 4 at the Canton mediator — Core coordinator + sender custodian + market maker + receiver custodian, derived from per-leg Allocation contracts’ {executor, sender, receiver} signatory closure |
| Counterparty risk | Zero (atomic DvP) |
| Settlement proof | 1 transaction hash covering all legs |
Choose Your Integration Guide
Institution
Initiate cross-border payments, select best execution from competing market makers, and settle atomically in ~15 seconds. Like sending a wire — but with competitive FX rates and instant finality.
Custodian
Authorize asset movements for your institutional clients with cryptographic dual control. Co-sign trades, safekeep settlement assets, and maintain full audit trails. Same fiduciary role — enforced by protocol.
Market Maker
Receive anonymized RFQs, compete on price, and settle won trades atomically with zero counterparty risk. Like quoting on a multi-dealer platform — but fully anonymous and with instant settlement.
Architecture
Each participant runs their own isolated infrastructure — backend, database, and settlement node. No shared systems, no shared data. Cross-party coordination flows exclusively through the settlement network.Current Status
Musubi is a member-owned production settlement rail, currently validating on the Canton Network testnet with institutional members. Membership is anchored on-chain: a 3-tier registry frames who is a member (Membership), what a member may do (Mandate), and the rules members agree to (Rulebook), with the validator node serving as on-chain membership.