Chainlink has unveiled a new technical framework that allows global financial institutions to manage tokenized fund operations directly through Swift’s long-established messaging network.
The integration, powered by the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), enables banks and asset managers to trigger fund subscriptions and redemptions using ISO 20022 messages, bypassing the need for costly infrastructure overhauls.
The announcement was made in Frankfurt on September 30, with Chainlink positioning the solution as a major step toward bringing blockchain connectivity into mainstream capital markets. By using the same Swift rails relied upon for decades, institutions can now access tokenized assets without introducing new identity or key management systems.
The breakthrough builds on the work completed under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian in 2024, where Swift, Chainlink, and UBS collaborated on tokenized asset pilots.
In the latest phase, UBS Tokenize ran a live technical and operational pilot, in which CRE processed Swift messages to trigger onchain subscription and redemption flows within a tokenized fund smart contract. The transactions were executed through the Chainlink Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) standard, which supports offchain settlement while enabling onchain lifecycle events.
According to Chainlink, this expanded approach now provides a plug-and-play interoperability layer, simplifying blockchain interactions for institutions by allowing Swift messages to initiate onchain actions in a standardized way. The company believes this could unlock enormous potential for the $100 trillion-plus global fund management industry by making tokenized workflows faster, more transparent, and easier to scale.
Sergey Nazarov, Chainlink’s co-founder, described the development as a turning point: “We are demonstrating how smart contracts and emerging standards can enable transfer agents and other entities to manage tokenized asset workflows onchain. UBS has shown that traditional financial institutions can leverage these technologies to explore new levels of product composability.”
Chainlink emphasized that the solution goes beyond technical integration, aiming to reduce reconciliation challenges, support compliance automation, and deliver efficiency gains through programmable infrastructure. With CRE and Swift working together, the company sees a clear path toward mainstream adoption of tokenized assets across capital markets.
