Global: Chainlink and UBS Advance Blockchain-Swift Integration for On-Chain Fund Transfers

Chainlink, in collaboration with UBS, has unveiled a breakthrough that allows financial institutions to initiate on-chain token transfers using traditional Swift messages, bridging conventional finance infrastructure with blockchain ecosystems.

The solution, powered by the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), enables banks and institutions to connect to blockchain networks through the same Swift rails they have relied on for decades. Importantly, this means institutions can engage with digital assets without overhauling existing systems or deploying new identity and key management frameworks.

In a pilot project with UBS Tokenize, the bank’s in-house tokenization unit, subscriptions and redemptions for a tokenized fund smart contract were executed via ISO 20022 messages transmitted through CRE and Swift infrastructure. CRE processed the Swift instructions, which in turn triggered the fund workflows in the Chainlink Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) technical standard.

This initiative builds on prior collaborations under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian (2024), where Swift, Chainlink, and UBS demonstrated tokenized fund settlement using off-chain cash settlement via Swift. The latest development extends those capabilities by enabling Swift messages to trigger on-chain events generically, paving the way for plug-and-play interoperability across financial products.

Highlighting the significance, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, stated:

“UBS is showing how smart contract-based technologies can help financial institutions explore new forms of product lifecycle composability. Seamless interaction with complex on-chain workflows through Swift messaging reduces operational friction, supports automated compliance, enhances transparency, eliminates reconciliation challenges, and drives efficiency gains through programmable infrastructure.”

The advancement represents a major step in bridging traditional financial messaging networks with blockchain innovation, underscoring how tokenization and interoperability are reshaping capital markets infrastructure.