Swift has concluded a significant interoperability pilot with leading financial institutions, using Chainlink to integrate tokenized bond settlements across both legacy and blockchain infrastructures. The development highlights growing convergence between traditional finance and emerging decentralized networks, signaling new pathways for large-scale adoption of digital assets among established banks.
Swift’s tokenization trial brings blockchain and banks together
In a landmark project, Swift coordinated with BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Société Générale’s digital asset division FORGE to execute tokenized bond transactions. These tests used Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), allowing seamless transfer and settlement of tokenized assets between public and private blockchains without overhauling core systems.
The initiative saw engagement from more than a dozen notable international institutions such as Citi, BNY Mellon, Euroclear, Clearstream, and Lloyds Banking Group. By leveraging existing Swift messaging infrastructure, participants explored secure integration of digital assets into familiar processes.
Chainlink’s CCIP serves as the technical foundation for settling assets across distinct blockchains. Banks can operate on-chain while using existing trusted messaging channels, reducing complexity and compliance concerns tied to new digital asset systems.
At Sibos 2024, Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov highlighted how banks could adopt blockchain technology while working within existing compliance standards. Demonstrations illustrated that tokenized settlements can be managed securely through the infrastructure financial institutions already trust.
As part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian, Swift, UBS Asset Management, and Chainlink enabled issuance and settlement of tokenized funds using traditional payment rails. This proof of concept illustrated unified operation between legacy banking and tokenized finance, reinforcing the possibility of cross-system integration at a global level.
Chainlink and partners advance data standards in capital markets
Chainlink also introduced a production-ready phase of its corporate actions initiative, involving 24 major financial entities such as Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, UBS, and Wellington Management. The latest phase brings in new roles for validating and enriching AI-extracted records regarding corporate actions, enhancing data reliability across blockchain and standardized channels.
The Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) was used to coordinate outputs from multiple AI models during testing, translating verified content into ISO 20022-compliant messages shared via the Swift Network. Meanwhile, Chainlink CCIP distributed identical validated records across blockchain environments, ensuring all post-trade systems and custodians accessed the same data synchronously.
During the trial, AI models achieved nearly perfect consensus for multilingual disclosures, advancing the system’s capabilities on a global scale. Verified data for confirmed corporate actions reached complete accuracy, establishing a new benchmark for trust and automation in the sector.
A key innovation from this initiative is the on-chain golden record, an attested, real-time reference point for both traditional finance and blockchain platforms. This shared data layer streamlines integration and supports further automation of tokenized assets, potentially transforming operational standards industry-wide.
Chainlink expanded its infrastructure through a partnership with the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), combining GLEIF’s trusted identity framework with Chainlink’s cross-chain compliance technology. Institutions are now able to verify asset provenance, enforce automated compliance, and meet regulatory needs across multiple jurisdictions—all key components for robust institutional blockchain adoption.
