Lombard Systems, a fintech with offices in Dubai and New York, has raised $4 million to make tokenised assets easier to borrow against. The funding was announced on 5 November and will help the company roll out its Delivery-versus-Lock standard to institutional clients.
The round was led by Ethereal Ventures, with participation from Alps Capital, First Commit Capital, Veris Ventures, Atka and others. The money comes across pre-seed and seed rounds, and it will fund the company’s first institutional deployment, which is planned by the end of 2026.
Borrowing against assets that never leave custody
Lombard Systems, previously known as SemiLiquid, created and maintains the Delivery-versus-Lock standard, known as DvL. It is a technical and legal framework that lets institutions use tokenised and digital assets as collateral without moving them from their existing securities accounts.
Under the standard, assets stay locked in the holder’s name at a custodian, broker-dealer or transfer agent. The lender receives a legally enforceable security interest, evidenced by a cryptographically signed Credit Receipt. The borrower keeps beneficial ownership until a default, at which point only the amount owed is transferred to the lender.
The standard supports Lombard and margin loans, financing against tokenised money market funds and stocks, securities lending by pledge, and initial margin for uncleared derivatives under existing ISDA Master Agreements. Institutions interested in adopting the standard can register at dvlstandard.org, where the full standard is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2027.
Why tokenised assets still need a legal bridge
Securities are being tokenised at speed. The Depository Trust Company’s tokenisation service began operating in October 2026, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission has granted conditional relief for venues trading tokenised US stocks. But holders still cannot borrow against those assets with the legal enforceability that institutions require.
That gap is what Lombard is trying to close. Rico van der Veen, co-founder and chief executive of Lombard Systems, said origination and enforcement of loans against tokenised collateral have to be as fast as the assets
can move, while staying grounded in existing securities law. He said that is what turns tokenised assets into usable collateral.
Tokenized stocks and funds are scaling now. Origination and enforcement of loans against tokenized collateral have to be as fast as the assets can move, while staying grounded in existing securities law. DvL keeps assets in their existing securities accounts and gives lenders enforceable rights, with enforcement agreed upfront. That is what turns tokenized assets into usable collateral.
Rico van der Veen, Co-Founder and CEO, Lombard Systems
A pilot with Franklin Templeton showed it working
The company is not starting from zero. In December 2025, SemiLiquid unveiled its Programmable Credit Protocol at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, backed by a pilot with Franklin Templeton, Zodia Custody, Avalanche, Presto Labs, M11 Credit, Oasis Foundation and CMS. Franklin Templeton’s daily yielding tokenised money market fund, BENJI, was used as collateral in the pilot, and it remained encumbered throughout the loan lifecycle.
The pilot showed that the idea works in practice, not just on paper. A tokenised fund could be pledged as collateral, the loan could run its course, and the asset never had to leave custody. That is the core promise of the DvL standard, and it is what the new funding is meant to turn into a widely adopted market practice.
What the $4 million will pay for
The funding will support institutional adoption, including legal opinions in the US, England, Wales and five further jurisdictions. It will also pay for more Control Locations, expanded integrations and team growth. Lombard plans its first institutional deployment by the end of 2026, with bank, broker-dealer and transfer agent integrations to follow.
The round may be modest in size, but it stands out in the UAE market. At $4 million, it sits in the top 10 percent of all-time seed rounds in the United Arab Emirates, based on a sample of 1,286 deals.
What Lombard’s raise means for Dubai’s tokenisation push
Dubai has spent years positioning itself as a home for tokenised finance, from its virtual asset rules to its tokenisation pilots. The missing piece has always been the plumbing: the legal and technical standards that let big institutions actually use these assets. Lombard is working on exactly that piece, and it is doing it from Dubai and New York at the same time.
The $4 million will not transform the market on its own. But if the first institutional deployment lands before the end of the year, and if the legal opinions hold up in the jurisdictions that matter, this small raise could turn out to be one of the more consequential ones in the UAE this year. Tokenisation has been waiting for its boring, essential infrastructure. This is what it looks like.
