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Commodity Futures Trading Commission Presentation

June 2022
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Xpansiv provides commodity market infrastructure for ESG-inclusive commodities 

• Formed through 2019 merger between CBL Markets and Xpansiv

− CBL Markets was founded in 2009 and operates the world’s largest carbon offset spot exchange 

− Xpansiv was founded in 2016 and operates a registry and data-interface for ESG-inclusive 

commodities

• Xpansiv operates an electronic spot exchange, registry infrastructure, portfolio management systems, 

and market data services for ESG-inclusive commodities, including:

• Global Operations

− +230 employees located in New York, London, Sydney, and San Francisco

Xpansiv | Overview

Renewable 

Energy

Natural 

Gas Carbon Water Fuels
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Premise | Commodity Markets & Products Evolve Around Infrastructure

Pipeline infrastructure 

enabled the benchmarks for

Crude and Natural Gas

Railroad infrastructure made 

Chicago a hub for

commodity market evolution 

ESG commodities 

require digital infrastructure 

to support market function 

Infrastructure underpinning liquidity hubs has driven 

market and product evolution of physical commodities

Xpansiv is a global liquidity hub in 

ESG commodities 

(beginning with Carbon Offsets)
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Xpansiv Platform

Xpansiv | Designed to Provide Physical Commodity Market Infrastructure 

to ESG-Markets

Carbon 

Offset 

Registry 

Ecosystem

Robust Standards

ACR, CAR, Verra, 

Gold Standard, 

CERCarbono

Leading 

Infrastructure 

Providers

APX, IHS Markit, 

etc.

Market 

Data

Provides price 

transparency

Data partner to PRAs 

(e.g., S&P Global)

Information that 

powers analytical 

insights

Portfolio

Management

OTC Settlement and 

Delivery Services

Multi-registry portfolio 

management and asset 

aggregation system for 

ESG Commodities

576M carbon offsets 

transferred in 2021

Delivery mechanism for 

futures exchanges 

(e.g., CME CBL GEO 

product suite)

Spot

Exchange

Anonymous Trading

T+0 Settlement Cycle

Reduces Counterparty 

Risk

122M carbon offsets 

transacted in 2021, 

market share >90% of 

spot exchange volumes 

in 2021

Global 

Commodity

Market

Infrastructure 

Ratings Agencies

Derivatives 

Exchanges

Benchmark Providers

Price Reporting 

Agencies

ETFs
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2019

• CBL merged with 

Xpansiv to form Xpansiv 

CBL Holding Group

• Developed Multiregistry Portfolio 

Management Service

2021

• CME group launched 

GEO futures contract

• Launched NatureBased Global Emissions 

OffsetTM (N-GEO) on CBL

• Partnership with S&P 

Global Platts for 

creation of carbon 

benchmarks

2009 – 2018

• CBL founded as a 

global carbon offsets 

exchange 

• Developed market 

infrastructure, registry 

relationships, and 

banking partnerships to 

enable T+0 settlement 

and anonymous 

trading of carbon 

offsets on an electronic 

exchange

2020

• Launched Global 

Emissions OffsetTM 

GEOTM

• Partnered with IATA to 

launch the Aviation 

Carbon Exchange

2022

• Launched Core Global 

Emissions Offset TM (CGEO) contracts on CBL 

to further scale the 

voluntary carbon 

market

5 10 

31 

122 

FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 1Q22

Innovation | Supports Market Growth

Formation of Xpansiv as a vertically 

integrated ESG Commodities platform

Developed Standardized Trading 

Instruments and Expanded Partnerships

Exchanged Traded Carbon Volumes

(million tonnes)

c.23x growth from FY18 to FY21

1Q22

47

c.2x 1Q21 

volumes
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APPENDIX
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Market Evolution | Follows Steps from a Well-Known Playbook

Identifiable 

Buyers & Sellers Liquidity Providers Opaque Pricing Fragmented Liquidity

Spot Market Trading Trusted Market Data Impartial Spot and 

Forward Curves Pooled Liquidity

Medium Term Contracts 

using Forward Curves

Long-Term Contracts, 

using Spot Benchmark 

price

Hedging using Futures 

Contracts based on 

benchmark price

Market Conditions are 

primed for rapid growth

Spot Market trading 

and transformations

Mechanisms for Risk Management, 

Hedging and Speculation
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Deeper Dive | Xpansiv as Access Point for ESG in the Global Commodity 

Complex

Physical Delivery Spot Data

Price Assessments

Futures Data

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Commentary

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Xpansiv can develop spot contracts based on 

direct market interaction incorporating feedback 

from Platts with respect to trading markets

Platts can develop a series of price assessments 

which can be underpinned by Xpansiv spot 

market data and develop use of those 

assessments as benchmarks. 

Futures pricing, settlements and forward curves 

can be performed by Platts, which, because of 

its IOSCO registered status, can underpin 

financial as well as physically delivered contracts

Xpansiv can continue to manage delivery for 

futures-contracts as needed
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Clearing & Settlement | Enables Standardized Instruments such as 

GEO, N-GEO, C-GEO
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Standardized Products | Clear Price Signals and Growing Participation 

in Spot and Futures Markets

Data from CME Group
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CBL Nature-Based Global 

Emissions Offset (N-GEO)

Examples of Tokenized Instruments

AirCarbon Global Nature Token (GNT) Klima DAO Nature Based Offset (NBO) Flow Carbon Goddess Nature Token (GNT)

Spot Contract – nothing 

custodied Security Token custodied on a Private Ledger Security Token custodied on a Public Blockchain Security Token custodied on a Public Blockchain

Delivers a Physical Registry 

Instrument (in Verra)

Delivers fractional ownership in a separate asset 

representing rights to an active Verra Instrument

Delivers fractional ownership in a separate asset 

representing rights or security interests in a pool of 

tokenized claims (Toucan Carbon Offset NFTs) for 

a batch of Instruments that were retired

Delivers fractional ownership in a separate asset 

representing rights in a pool of tokenized claims 

(GCO2s Goddess NFTs) which are secured 1-to-1 by 

an active Verra Instrument

N-GEO participants must 

have registry accounts to 

hold Verra Instruments 

ACX participants do not have Verra registry 

accounts

Klima participants do not have Verra registry 

accounts Flow participants do not have Verra accounts

Eligible VCU sits in each 

Verra participants 

applicable Verra account

Instrument to which GNT relates sits in unnamed 

Singaporean custodian’s omnibus Verra account

Instrument to which NBO relates is retired in a 

Verra Registry for the benefit of an 

<Ethereum address>

Instrument to which GNT relates sits in unnamed 

Bankruptcy-Remote SPV’s omnibus Verra account 

Verra and CBL jointly track 

all transfers of VCUs

ACX may or may not track all transfers of GNTs, 

no tracking by Verra

NBO transfers are tracked on the Ethereum 

network where there is no KYC/AML and claims 

can not be transferred once the Instruments to 

which they relate are retired. 

GNT transfers are tracked on the Celo network 

where there is no KYC/AML however there is no 

tracking of GNTs by Verra

GEO transactions in VCUs 

result in transfers recorded 

on Verra Registry

GNT transfers likely recorded on ACX’s sub-ledger NBO transfers recorded on Ethereum public 

blockchain network

GNT transfers recorded on the Celo public 

blockchain network

Verra Participants self-retire 

VCUs in Verra

GNT participants notify ACX. Token is destroyed. 

Retirement may or may not be made in Verra by 

ACX “on-behalf of” unnamed Participant.

N/A - Klima tokens are related to previously retired 

Verra offsets, 

GNTs are retired by token-holder, then 

”unwrapped” by Flow back from the fungible GNT 

into the underlying GCO2, then retired by Flow onbehalf of participant

Full ability for Registry 

(Verra) to track 

ownership/transfers

Additional effort, costs, and coordination with 

ACX required for Verra to track license and 

ownership of GNTs

Additional effort, costs, and coordination with a 

decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) 

required to track license and ownership of NBOs

Additional effort, costs, and coordination with Flow 

required to track license and ownership of GNTs

Spot contracts to deliver Physical Registry Instruments are not the same as Tokenized Instruments—which are assets connected or related to an underlying instrument

Contrast | Spot Contracts vs. Tokenized Instruments