Chainlink Integrates Swift Messaging to Simplify Tokenized Fund Workflows

Chainlink has developed a technical solution enabling financial institutions to manage tokenized fund workflows directly using Swift messaging and the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). This approach allows banks and institutions to interact with blockchain networks through existing Swift infrastructure, eliminating the need to replace identity systems, key management protocols, or internal processes.

The development builds on prior work with Swift and UBS in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian in 2024, where tokenized fund subscriptions and redemptions were successfully triggered using ISO 20022 messages. The new CRE integration expands this capability, allowing more generic and scalable onchain triggers from Swift messages.

How Chainlink and Swift Integration Works

The integration combines three key elements:

• Swift Messaging: ISO 20022 messages are used to signal fund subscriptions, redemptions, and other corporate actions.
• Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE): Validates incoming Swift messages and triggers corresponding onchain smart contract events.
• Chainlink Digital Transfer Agent (DTA): Executes tokenized fund workflows onchain, ensuring accuracy and consistency.

In practice, financial institutions can send standard Swift messages through CRE, which then triggers automated actions on a smart contract. This removes the need for manual reconciliation, reduces operational friction, and enhances compliance automation.

A pilot with UBS Tokenize demonstrated that fund subscriptions and redemptions could be processed using this method, with offchain cash settlements integrated through Swift infrastructure. Institutions do not need to overhaul existing systems, enabling a plug-and-play model for tokenized fund experimentation.

Scaling Tokenized Fund Operations

CRE’s abstraction layer enables institutions to trigger onchain events without direct blockchain integration, opening the door for broader adoption in the $100+ trillion global fund industry. Key benefits include:

• Reduced reconciliation and operational workload.
• Automated compliance and reporting.
• Enhanced transparency and traceability for fund transactions.
• Faster processing through programmable smart contract infrastructure.

"I'm very excited about this landmark innovation we've achieved by leveraging Swift's standards and UBS' tokenized 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 tokenized asset workflows onchain," said Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink.

UBS has used the model to explore new product lifecycle strategies, including subscription management and redemptions.

Implications for the Fund Industry

Tokenized fund management has become a focus for financial institutions seeking faster settlements, lower operational risk, and greater market flexibility. By integrating Swift messaging with blockchain workflows, Chainlink offers institutions a path to manage tokenized fund operations from legacy systems.

Using smart contracts and CRE, firms can automate fund subscription and redemption processes while maintaining transparency and traceability. This approach also allows banks to explore new product lifecycles and distribution methods without disrupting existing infrastructure. For an industry under pressure to modernize operations and reduce costs, this could become a key enabler for broader adoption of tokenized funds.

Swift Blockchain Ledger Overview

Alongside the CRE integration, Swift has announced plans for a blockchain-based shared ledger to expand digital finance in over 200 countries. The ledger is designed for real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments, enabling regulated tokenized value transfers across digital ecosystems.

Key features include:

• Dynamic Transaction Validation: Transactions are validated in real time to ensure accuracy.
• Smart Contract Enforcement: Payment rules are executed automatically.
• Interoperability: Supports both private and public networks alongside existing fiat systems.
• Operational Resilience: Leverages Swift’s trusted infrastructure for high-volume transaction security.

The shared ledger begins with a prototype for 24/7 cross-border payments and will iterate with input from over 30 global financial institutions, including Bank of America, HSBC, JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, and Banco Santander.

Corporate Actions Integration

Recently, Chainlink also partnered with 24 global institutions, including Swift, DTCC, and Euroclear, to standardize corporate actions onchain. Corporate actions—such as dividends, mergers, stock splits, rights issues, and tender offers—currently cost the industry roughly $58 billion annually.

The new system uses Chainlink oracles, AI, and CRE to:

• Extract structured data from unstructured announcements using large language models.
• Validate outputs across multiple AI models for accuracy.
• Publish unified “golden records” onchain.
• Synchronize data across public and private networks using Chainlink CCIP.

Phase 1 focused on structured data extraction and verification. Phase 2 deployed production-grade systems, introducing attestor roles to cryptographically confirm accuracy, ensuring a verifiable chain of custody across multiple languages, including Spanish and Chinese.

Also, worth noting, on Oct. 1, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and Chainlink have joined forces to create an institutional-grade blockchain identity solution. The system combines GLEIF’s verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI) with Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Identity (CCID) and Automated Compliance Engine (ACE). It embeds trusted organizational identity into onchain wallets, smart contracts, and tokenized assets. Institutions, stablecoin issuers, and trading venues can now meet regulations, automate compliance, and verify counterparties across borders. All of this is done while safeguarding user privacy.

Conclusion

Chainlink’s integration with Swift messaging and the CRE enables financial institutions to manage tokenized fund workflows without overhauling legacy systems. By automating fund subscriptions, redemptions, and corporate actions, the platform reduces operational friction, improves transparency, and supports real-time settlement.

Combined with Swift’s blockchain ledger initiative, the solution provides a scalable, secure infrastructure for tokenized assets and cross-border payments.

Resources:

Press release: Chainlink Advances Tokenized Fund Workflows With Swift Messaging in Collaboration With UBS: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chainlink-advances-tokenized-fund-workflows-with-swift-messaging-in-collaboration-with-ubs-302570072.html

Press release - Swift to add blockchain-based ledger to its infrastructure stack in groundbreaking move to accelerate and scale benefits of digital finance across more than 200 countries and territories worldwide: https://www.swift.com/news-events/press-releases/swift-add-blockchain-based-ledger-its-infrastructure-stack-groundbreaking-move-accelerate-and-scale-benefits-digital-finance

Press release -  Chainlink and 24 Leading Financial Market Participants Advance Industry Initiative To Solve $58 Billion Corporate Actions Problem: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chainlink-and-24-leading-financial-market-participants-advance-industry-initiative-to-solve-58-billion-corporate-actions-problem-302569071.html

About Chainlink Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE): https://chain.link/chainlink-runtime-environment