Blockchain oracle provider Chainlink has unveiled one of the initial products stemming from a collaboration with UBS Asset Management and Swift, the global financial messaging network. This initiative aims to enable banks to initiate on-chain transactions using their current infrastructure.
In a Tuesday announcement, Chainlink integrated its execution layer, the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), with Swift messaging. This integration allows banks globally to utilize existing SWIFT infrastructure to connect to blockchains.
This collaboration builds on Project Guardian, a pilot launched in 2024 by Chainlink, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and UBS Tokenize, UBS Asset Management’s in-house tokenization unit. The pilot demonstrated how tokenized fund workflows could align with current fiat payment systems.
During the pilot, the companies utilized Swift’s ISO 20022 messages to execute fund subscriptions and redemptions on-chain. In traditional finance, these processes involve a series of custodians, transfer agents, fund administrators, and other intermediaries, each contributing to delays and additional reconciliation steps.
“This interoperability unlock enables last-mile connectivity options already familiar and used by financial institutions and service providers today,” stated Chainlink.
A report from McKinsey indicated that assets under management reached $147 trillion in June 2025.
Founded in the 1970s, Swift is a Belgium-based cooperative owned by its member banks and is recognized for operating the global messaging network that facilitates cross-border payments.
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SWIFT’s evolution in blockchain
Swift has been collaborating with Chainlink since 2023, when both entities conducted tests that illustrated how Swift’s infrastructure could offer banks a single access point to various blockchains.
In September 2024, Swift partnered with the Bank for International Settlements and 41 private financial firms in Project Agorá, an initiative investigating how tokenized commercial bank deposits could function alongside wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a shared platform.
In March of the same year, the cooperative revealed plans for a blockchain-based “state machine” to monitor transactions and balances across institutions using ISO 20022 messaging, intended to operate on either blockchain or its centralized Transaction Manager platform.
Swift is also collaborating with Ethereum ecosystem developer Consensys and over 30 institutions to create a blockchain settlement system tailored for 24/7, real-time cross-border payments.
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