A New Step in Chainlink–Swift Collaboration
Chainlink and Swift have taken their partnership further by piloting a new system with UBS Tokenize, the in-house tokenization arm of UBS. The initiative enables financial institutions to run subscription and redemption workflows for tokenized funds directly from their existing systems. Instead of forcing banks and asset managers to overhaul infrastructure, the integration uses Swift’s financial messaging network and Chainlink’s Runtime Environment (CRE) to bridge legacy systems with blockchain.
How It Works: CRE and Swift Messaging?
The pilot leverages Swift’s ISO 20022 messaging standards and Chainlink’s Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) protocol. Swift messages sent through CRE automatically trigger onchain smart contract events. This allows institutions to manage fund processes like subscriptions and redemptions without building new identity layers or key management frameworks.
Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov called the development a landmark innovation, explaining that it shows how transfer agents and financial institutions can use smart contracts and standardized messaging to manage tokenized assets onchain. UBS, through this pilot, is validating how smart contract–based solutions can be applied to complex fund workflows while keeping existing infrastructure intact.
Why This Matters for the $100 Trillion Fund Industry
The global fund industry is enormous—worth more than $100 trillion. But its processes are often slow, fragmented, and costly to maintain. By presenting a “plug-and-play” model, Chainlink and Swift position this solution as a bridge between the old and new. Institutions can test tokenized products without investing millions into new infrastructure or risking operational disruption. For Swift, which connects over 11,000 institutions across 200 countries, this integration underscores its ambition to remain the backbone of global financial transactions in a tokenized future.
Building on Chainlink’s AI and Corporate Actions Pilot
This pilot comes just days after $LINK announced progress on its AI-driven corporate actions project. That initiative tested how large language models like GPT, Gemini, and Claude could process corporate actions—such as dividend payments or merger updates—into structured, ISO 20022‑compliant records sent through Swift. Backers included major clearinghouses and banks such as DTCC, Euroclear, UBS, DBS, and BNP Paribas.
Both the UBS Tokenize and corporate actions pilots highlight how the same Chainlink–Swift infrastructure can be applied across different financial workflows. From funds to corporate events, the goal is to make blockchain and AI practical for traditional institutions.
Swift’s Parallel Blockchain Push
At the same time, Swift is working with ConsenSys on a blockchain‑based shared ledger for cross‑border payments. More than 30 global banks, including HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Bank of America, are part of the tests. Swift sees this as a step toward an interoperable, regulated on‑chain financial system that retains compliance and global standards while unlocking the efficiencies of distributed ledger technology.
The Bigger Picture
What’s unfolding is not a one‑off experiment but part of a broader roadmap. $Chainlink is using CRE as a universal adapter, turning Swift’s trusted messaging rails into blockchain triggers. Swift, for its part, is showing regulators and banks that tokenized infrastructure can be adopted without ripping out existing pipes. UBS is proving that large banks can run real pilots on live infrastructure today.
If these efforts scale, the integration could mark one of the most significant shifts in how global finance operates—bridging traditional institutions with the tokenized economy.