Zürich-based firm is the only Swiss company among 18 participants in the central bank’s programme to test synchronised settlement of tokenised assets and digital money
ZÜRICH – UAC Labs AG, a Zürich-based financial technology company, has been selected by the Bank of England as one of 18 firms to participate in its RT2 Synchronisation Lab, a programme designed to test how the settlement of tokenised assets and digital money can be synchronised with payments in central bank money. UAC Labs is the only Swiss-domiciled participant in the programme and one of only five firms based outside the United Kingdom.
In the Synchronisation Lab, UAC Labs will test its patent-pending Coordination State Machine (CSM) protocol, which enables atomic multi-party settlement across different ledgers and payment systems without requiring smart contracts, blockchain bridges, or changes to existing custody arrangements. UAC Labs is one of only two participants whose primary area of focus is as a “decentralised solution provider.”
“We are honoured to have been selected for the Synchronisation Lab. Our core belief is that financial institutions need coordination across heterogeneous systems, not migration to a single blockchain,” said George Heyward II, CEO and Co-Founder of UAC Labs AG. “Our protocol enables assets to remain in existing custody arrangements while settlement becomes atomic and simultaneous across any combination of traditional and digital rails. We look forward to demonstrating this in the Lab environment.”
The RT2 Synchronisation Lab is part of the Bank of England’s RTGS Future Roadmap, which sets out the next phase of development for the United Kingdom’s core payments infrastructure. The Lab will run from spring to autumn 2026 in a non-live environment, testing how synchronised settlement can reduce settlement risk, improve efficiency, and support innovation in tokenised asset markets. Participants will demonstrate their solutions across use cases including payment-versus-payment for foreign exchange, delivery-versus-payment for tokenised securities, collateral optimisation, and digital money issuance.
UAC Labs AG was founded in Zürich in 2025 by George Heyward II, who brings 30 years of institutional finance experience building fixed income businesses for major financial institutions, and Dr. Alexander Hobbs, whose background spans theoretical astrophysics and blockchain architecture. The company has filed a provisional patent (USPTO 63/915,624) for its Coordination State Machine technology and has achieved live testnet deployments coordinating settlement across multiple blockchain networks.
“Being selected alongside major global financial market infrastructure providers demonstrates that the coordination approach to settlement is gaining recognition at the highest level,” added Heyward. “For a newly formed Zürich company to be part of this programme is a milestone for both UAC Labs and the Swiss financial technology ecosystem.”
About UAC Labs AG
UAC Labs AG is a Zürich-based financial technology company building coordination infrastructure for institutional finance. Its Coordination State Machine (CSM) protocol enables atomic multi-party settlement across heterogeneous systems including public blockchains, SWIFT, FedNow, and traditional databases. www.uaclabs.com
About the RT2 Synchronisation Lab
The Synchronisation Lab is part of the Bank of England’s RTGS Future Roadmap. Full details and the participant list are available at: bankofengland.co.uk/payment-and-settlement/rtgs-future-roadmap/synchro-lab
Media Contact: George Heyward II, CEO, UAC Labs AG | info@uaclabs.com | www.uaclabs.com
