GTN appoints Mark Jennings to lead tokenisation

GTN has appointed Mark Jennings as its first global head of digital assets, giving the Dubai-based market-infrastructure provider a dedicated executive to build services for tokenised securities across its global brokerage network.

The newly created role places Jennings at the centre of GTN's tokenisation strategy as financial institutions and digital asset platforms seek ways to offer blockchain-based versions of conventional investments within regulated trading and custody frameworks. GTN said he will lead the company's approach to supporting tokenised securities through its market-access infrastructure.

Jennings joins after serving as chief executive of Gemini Europe, where he led the cryptocurrency company's expansion in European markets. Before Gemini, he held senior positions at Kraken, including chief executive of Crypto Facilities, the FCA-regulated derivatives venue that served institutional clients and was acquired by Kraken in 2019.

His background combines European digital-asset operations with regulated derivatives experience, a fit for GTN's plan to connect tokenised instruments with the systems financial firms already use for onboarding, order execution, settlement and client management. Tokenisation projects often face a practical challenge beyond issuing an asset on a blockchain: they must fit into compliance, brokerage and operational processes that remain fragmented across jurisdictions.

A new executive layer for tokenisation

GTN said Jennings will work on its digital-assets strategy as the company expands products aimed at financial institutions and digital asset platforms. The appointment follows the October recruitment of Daniel Endler as GTN's first group chief product officer.

Endler previously worked at Saxo Bank, a Danish multi-asset trading and investment platform. GTN linked both appointments to an expansion of its institutional-facing offering, pairing a product leadership role with a specialist focused on digital assets and tokenised securities.

The sequence suggests GTN is preparing to develop tokenisation as a product line inside its existing brokerage infrastructure rather than operating it as a stand-alone crypto service. That approach could appeal to banks, brokers and fintech applications that want to add blockchain-based assets without rebuilding every part of their trading stack.

GTN has positioned its technology around a unified, API-first architecture. An application programming interface, or API, allows separate software systems to exchange data and instructions, making it a core component for firms that offer investing functions through third-party apps or embedded finance products.

According to GTN, its infrastructure provides access to more than 90 markets and as many as eight asset classes through a single API. The company said those services are delivered through six regulated entities.

Brokerage infrastructure is the operational focus

GTN said its platform automates stages of the investment lifecycle, beginning with digital client onboarding and extending through post-trade settlement. Its existing product range includes fractional trading, micro-portfolios and full-service brokerage tools, alongside fractional bond offerings with minimum investments from $1.

Those services provide a potential foundation for tokenised assets, which could be offered in fractional units and distributed through familiar brokerage interfaces. Yet the operational model will depend on the type of asset involved, the jurisdiction in which it is offered, and the legal structure used to connect an on-chain token to the underlying security or financial claim.

For GTN, the near-term task is likely to be less about replacing traditional market infrastructure than integrating blockchain-based instruments into it. Securities platforms need reliable pricing, controls over who can access products, transaction records, asset custody arrangements and procedures for corporate actions such as dividends or stock splits. These requirements can be more complex than the technical act of transferring a token between blockchain addresses.

Jennings' previous role at Crypto Facilities is relevant in that regard. The venue operated under UK Financial Conduct Authority oversight and focused on institutional derivatives clients, bringing him experience with the regulated-market expectations that tokenised securities providers must address.

Regulated footprint across major markets

GTN said it employs more than 700 professionals in 14 countries and serves more than 500 clients globally. The company is headquartered in Dubai and lists IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and SBI Ventures Singapore among its strategic backers.

Its regulated entities hold authorisations that include the FCA in the United Kingdom, the Dubai Financial Services Authority in the Dubai International Financial Centre, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. GTN also cited authorisations from South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission.

That geographic structure gives GTN a starting point for serving clients across several major financial centres, although tokenised products would still need to meet the rules governing securities issuance, distribution, trading and custody in each relevant jurisdiction.

The company has not announced specific tokenised securities, launch dates or partner platforms alongside Jennings' appointment. Its immediate move is organisational: establishing senior leadership for a category that increasingly requires expertise in both blockchain technology and regulated financial-market operations.

With Jennings leading digital assets and Endler overseeing group product development, GTN is assembling executives around the central challenge of tokenisation: making on-chain financial products usable within the regulated systems where institutions and their clients already trade.