Tradeweb Completes First On-Chain Electronic Auction for Brokered CDs

Key Terms

on-chain technical

On-chain describes actions or data that are recorded directly on a blockchain, a public digital ledger that creates a permanent, time-stamped record of transactions. For investors, on-chain activity provides verifiable evidence of transfers, ownership changes or automated program actions (like contract-driven payments); seeing these entries is like checking a bank statement and helps assess liquidity, settlement finality, fees, and transparency when judging risk and market behavior.

blockchain technology technical

A blockchain is a shared digital ledger that records transactions across many computers so entries are visible to participants and hard to change. Think of it like a Google Doc that everyone can see and verify but cannot secretly edit, creating a permanent chain of time-stamped records. Investors watch blockchain because it can reduce fraud and middlemen, enable new digital assets and services, and materially affect company costs, revenue models and regulatory risk.

fdic-insured regulatory

"FDIC-insured" means that a bank or savings institution is protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees that depositors will get back their money up to a certain limit if the bank fails. This insurance provides peace of mind, similar to a safety net, ensuring that your savings are protected even if the bank encounters financial trouble. It helps build trust and confidence for people saving or investing their money in banks.

cryptographically verified technical

A statement or file that is cryptographically verified has been checked using secure mathematical techniques to prove it came from the claimed source and has not been altered. For investors this is like a tamper-evident seal or a notarized signature on a document: it makes financial announcements, ownership records, or data feeds more trustworthy by reducing the risk of fraud, accidental changes, or fake documents and allowing quick, automated verification.

cusips financial

A CUSIP is a unique nine-character code assigned to stocks, bonds and other U.S. and Canadian securities that works like a barcode, letting traders, brokers and databases identify a specific issue quickly and without confusion. Investors rely on CUSIPs to match trades, settle transactions, track holdings and find official documents, so correct CUSIP use helps prevent errors and ensures records and regulatory filings point to the exact security.

Milestone in the modernization of a historically manual market

Reflects an expanded digital infrastructure for fixed income

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced that it completed the industry’s first fully electronic auction for brokered certificates of deposit (CDs). The inaugural transaction took place on Tradeweb’s retail platform between Gateway First Bank and InspereX, and was executed on-chain, powered by Alphaledger’s blockchain technology.

The auction represents a key step toward modernizing a market that has long relied on manual processes and weekly pricing set by a limited group of dealers. Although outstanding brokered CD volume is significant, only about 25% of U.S. banks currently issue brokered CDs, highlighting the opportunity to expand participation, improve transparency and increase efficiency across the ecosystem.

John Cahalane, Head of Tradeweb Retail, commented: “This inaugural transaction marks an important step toward building more modernized, electronic, on-chain markets. By digitizing the brokered CD auction process, we are expanding access and transparency to improve execution for issuers, distributors and investors. The future of finance is increasingly moving on-chain, and this innovation opens new pathways for market participants to engage with these products.”

Brokered CD issuance year-to-date through October 2025 amounts to approximately $566 billion, while total outstanding is estimated at about $820 billion. Brokered CDs offered to individual retail investors are FDIC-insured up to $250,000, with potential for broader FDIC coverage as more banks enter the marketplace. For corporate treasurers, this electronic auction introduces added flexibility for yield optimization and diversification through a streamlined digital process.

Manish Dutta, Co-founder and CEO at Alphaledger, said: “By recording each auction event as an instantaneous, immutable and cryptographically verified entry, our digital infrastructure removes the need for manual reconciliation and reduces reliance on third-party verification. This digital workflow enhances efficiency, strengthens price discovery and creates a more robust, auditable trail for the entire issuance process. We’re proud to support this important step toward a more modern and transparent fixed income market.”

Jonathan Wallace, Chief Financial Officer at Gateway First Bank, said: “We’re pleased to participate in the first on-chain auction for brokered CDs. This initiative reflects our commitment to bringing new efficiencies to this market. We see blockchain technology as a tool that can foster a more connected and transparent ecosystem, ultimately benefiting both issuers and investors.”

John Tolar, Head of Fixed Income and Institutional Sales at InspereX, said: “We have long focused on using technology to open markets and expand investor choice. This collaboration brings the advantages of blockchain technology to the brokered CD market, giving investors greater access, transparency and confidence through a more secure digital process.”

Tradeweb’s retail platform facilitates over $5.35 billion in average daily trading volume¹ and averaged more than 260,000 unique CUSIPs on the platform during the month of November 2025. Connected to the world’s largest wealth management firms, the platform delivers enhanced price transparency and deep retail liquidity across the wealth management community.

1	Year-to-date through November 2025

About Tradeweb Markets
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW) is a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. Founded in 1996, Tradeweb provides access to markets, data and analytics, electronic trading, straight-through-processing and reporting for more than 50 products to clients in the institutional, wholesale, retail and corporates markets. Advanced technologies developed by Tradeweb enhance price discovery, order execution and trade workflows while allowing for greater scale and helping to reduce risks in client trading operations. Tradeweb serves more than 3,000 clients in more than 85 countries. On average, Tradeweb facilitated more than $2.4 trillion in notional value traded per day over the past four fiscal quarters. For more information, please go to www.tradeweb.com.

About Alphaledger
Alphaledger is a leading provider of blockchain infrastructure for regulated assets, focused on origination, trading, settlement, and the development of autonomous clearing. The company’s securities tokenization platform “Vulcan Forge” streamlines the entire lifecycle of financial assets by utilizing blockchain technology to deliver efficiency and real-time synchronization across market participants. Founded in 2019, Alphaledger pioneered the on-chain recording of regulated financial instruments and continues to advance the modernization of capital markets. For more information, please go to www.alphaledger.com.

About InspereX
InspereX is built on access, aggregation, and analysis. The firm redefines precision investing across structured products, ETFs, private markets, and new-issue and secondary fixed income, connecting advisors and institutions to differentiated investment opportunities and combining deep market expertise with a modern approach to distribution. InspereX represents more than 400 issuing entities, distributes to more than 1,500 partners, and has distributed more than $800 billion in new issue securities. The firm has seven trading desks and more than 180 employees with offices in Delray Beach, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, IL; and New York, NY.

About Gateway First Bank
Gateway, headquartered in Jenks, Oklahoma, is a leading financial institution committed to the community and focused on personalized financial solutions. Founded in 2000, Gateway is one of the largest financial institutions in the state, with assets totaling over $2 billion. In addition to its eight banking centers in Oklahoma, Gateway has a strong national mortgage presence, with 70 mortgage locations around the country and a staff of approximately 600 employees. www.gatewayfirst.com

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements related to, among other things, our outlook and future performance, the industry and markets in which we operate, our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects and assumptions and future events are forward-looking statements.

We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the documents of Tradeweb Markets Inc. on file with or furnished to the SEC, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future events or performance and future events, our actual results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and the development of the industry and markets in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if future events, our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and events in the industry and markets in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, they may not be predictive of events, results or developments in future periods.

Any forward-looking statement that we make in this release speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251215917278/en/

Media:

Daniel Noonan, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4677

Daniel.Noonan@Tradeweb.com



Savannah Steele, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4941

Savannah.Steele@Tradeweb.com



John Principio, River Communications, InspereX

+1 914 686 5599

JPrincipio@riverinc.com



Jennifer Jones, Gateway First Bank

+1 918 201 9891

jennifer.jones@gatewayfirst.com



Alphaledger Media

media@alphaledger.com



Investor:

Ashley Serrao, Tradeweb

+1 646 430 6027

Ashley.Serrao@Tradeweb.com



Sameer Murukutla, Tradeweb

+1 646 767 4864

Sameer.Murukutla@Tradeweb.com

Source: Tradeweb Markets Inc.