iSentric signs two MoUs to extend its Southeast Asia banking reach
Ovanti Limited (ASX: OVT) has advised that its wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary, iSentric Sdn Bhd, has entered into two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), one with EthSystems and one with TEIZA Sdn Bhd (together with Ovanti). EthSystems is described as an engineering and research company building confidential infrastructure for institutional Ethereum.
The parties intend to explore potential non-exclusive cooperation between iSentric’s fintech and banking-distribution network in Southeast Asia and the partners’ respective technology. The announcement does not disclose financial terms, revenue, costs or binding commitments, so the MoUs should be read as exploratory.
Both MoUs follow the strategic review completed on 20 August 2026, under which the Company is concentrating resources on growing iSentric. According to the announcement, the arrangements give iSentric a potential pathway to extend into higher-value institutional infrastructure.
The strategic review followed Ovanti’s global BNPL exit, which ended further capital allocation to that business and left iSentric as the group’s sole commercial focus.
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Who is EthSystems? Institutional Ethereum privacy backed by major names
What EthSystems builds
EthSystems was founded in July 2026 by Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén and Aaryamann Challani, who previously led the Ethereum Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Task Force. The founders’ backgrounds span the Ethereum Foundation, Goldman Sachs, and Status, an early Ethereum mobile wallet.
The company builds confidential transfers, private bonds and confidential settlement. These are intended to let regulated institutions transact on Ethereum while meeting disclosure and compliance obligations.
Backers and credibility
EthSystems has attracted anchor funding from Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), SharpLink (Nasdaq: SBET) and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin. The table below summarises the standing of each backer as described in the announcement.
| Backer | Role/Standing | Key figure |
|---|---|---|
| Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) | World’s largest Ethereum treasury company | Approx. 5.9 million ETH (around 4.9% of total ETH supply), worth approx. US$15.6 billion as of 30 August 2026 |
| SharpLink (Nasdaq: SBET) | Second-largest corporate holder of ETH | Approx. 888,000 ETH |
| Joseph Lubin | Ethereum co-founder, founder of Consensys, chairs SharpLink | Not applicable |
Consensys, the company behind the MetaMask wallet and the Infura developer platform, was valued at approximately US$7.25 billion in recent secondary-market trading, according to the announcement.
EthSystems is one of three companies that spun out of the Ethereum Foundation in 2026. In August 2026, it separately signed an MoU with Undefined Labs, a South Korea-based Web3 institutional advisory firm.
What the EthSystems and TEIZA MoUs cover
Areas to be evaluated
Both MoUs list the same proposed areas for evaluation:
- Introduction, referral and potential resale of each party’s products and services
- Joint market development
- Technical integration opportunities
- Co-hosted ecosystem activities
Why each partner matters
For EthSystems, the announcement states the MoU gives iSentric a route to offer its existing banking clients privacy-preserving settlement capability on Ethereum. This would extend iSentric’s current business into higher-value institutional infrastructure territory.
TEIZA is a Malaysia-based sovereign blockchain infrastructure provider, and its MoU was signed at EVM Institutional Day. The announcement says it gives iSentric a further channel to introduce blockchain infrastructure services to existing banking relationships, building on its distribution network rather than requiring iSentric to build new infrastructure itself.
Board view
The Board views the MoUs as “among a number of avenues” through which iSentric can build a broader, higher-value institutional offering in the region.
Blockchain infrastructure explained: why privacy matters for banks
Public blockchains record transactions on a shared ledger that can be viewed openly. Regulated institutions such as banks have disclosure and compliance obligations, which can make fully open transaction records difficult to accept.
Privacy-preserving settlement is designed to let institutions use Ethereum while still meeting those obligations. The announcement describes this as a feature increasingly requested by institutions as they move from pilot projects toward production use of blockchain infrastructure.
For iSentric, the announcement notes it has established relationships with a number of Malaysia’s leading commercial banks. Those relationships are the distribution base through which any cooperation would be explored.
How the MoUs feed DEOS-X and Ovanti’s growth strategy
DEOS-X is a Digital Economy Operating System providing borderless financial products for corporates and institutions on programmable rails. On the platform, money can be moved, changed, lent and held between countries without passing through chains of correspondent banks.
Its product suites cover OTC, on-chain FX, remittance, credit, cards, wallet, stablecoin and CBDC management, asset tokenisation, custody and digital ID. The MoUs are intended to explore how each party’s expertise could strengthen this offering:
- EthSystems: The parties intend to explore how its confidential settlement could give DEOS-X clients privacy-preserving settlement.
- TEIZA: The parties intend to explore how its sovereign blockchain infrastructure could support DEOS-X’s tokenisation and stablecoin and CBDC management products.
- iSentric: Established distribution and integration into banks, alongside authentication and transaction processing, which could give DEOS-X a route to bank clients.
iSentric is Ovanti’s longstanding Malaysian operating business, with more than two decades of banking relationships in Malaysia. As part of the strategic review, the Board directed management to prioritise revenue-generating opportunities for iSentric, including expanding services to existing customers and securing new institutional clients.
Investors may wish to watch for any definitive agreements arising from the MoUs. The Board has also stated it will continue to evaluate similar partnership opportunities that support its ambition for iSentric.
For readers wanting the wider regional picture, our detailed coverage of Ovanti’s Asia programmable rails strategy sets out the Nepal CBDC proof-of-concept, the JuncturaX financing launch targeted for Q1 2027 and the Tajikistan exchange pilot.
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