Chainlink has announced a new technical solution that allows financial institutions to manage digital asset workflows through their existing systems using Swift messaging and the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE).
By combining CRE with Swift, banks and institutions can access blockchains via the infrastructure they already use, without needing to replace processes or introduce new identity and key management systems.
The first application of this solution was carried out with UBS Tokenize, the bank’s in-house tokenisation unit.
In this pilot, subscriptions and redemptions for a UBS tokenised fund smart contract were initiated using ISO 20022 messages through Swift and CRE.
These messages were received by CRE, which then triggered the corresponding workflows in the Chainlink Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) technical standard.
This builds on the earlier collaboration between Swift, Chainlink and UBS within the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian in 2024.
That initiative demonstrated the potential for settlement of tokenised fund subscriptions and redemptions using off-chain cash settlement via Swift.
The latest development extends this by integrating CRE, which simplifies interaction with tokenised assets and enables on-chain events to be triggered more flexibly through Swift messages.
According to Chainlink, this form of interoperability offers financial institutions a means of accessing tokenised asset workflows while relying on existing connectivity and infrastructure.
UBS, through its tokenisation unit, has shown how such systems can be applied in practice, with smart contracts supporting fund lifecycle events such as subscriptions and redemptions.
Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink, said:
“I’m very excited about this landmark innovation we’ve achieved by leveraging Swift’s standards and UBS’ tokenised asset design, as we are showing how the use of smart contracts and new technical standards can enable transfer agents and other entities to manage tokenised asset workflows on-chain.”
He added:
“UBS is demonstrating how the use of smart contract-based technologies can be used by financial institutions to more readily explore new types of product lifecycle composability.”
The ability to manage complex workflows on-chain through familiar Swift messaging may reduce operational friction, support compliance processes, and improve transparency, while streamlining reconciliation and lifecycle management for institutions engaging with tokenised funds.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by freepik
