Chainlink is set to become the "backbone" of traditional finance: Jefferies

Chainlink is being assessed as potentially becoming the core platform for traditional finance as capital markets increasingly adopt blockchain infrastructure, according to a report by investment bank Jefferies following a conversation with Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov.

This decentralized oracle network connects smart contracts with real-world data and off-chain systems, enabling the deployment of advanced applications such as tokenized asset payments, parametric insurance, and cross-chain messaging. Jefferies stated that LINK, the native token of Chainlink, will benefit as the tokenization process accelerates.

As of September, Chainlink has provided data for assets worth $103 billion, a significant increase from $23 billion at the beginning of 2024, supporting over 2,500 projects. Partnerships with organizations such as SWIFT, DTCC, Euroclear, and JPMorgan demonstrate that Chainlink is playing a connecting role between crypto and traditional finance.

Tokenization process — converting real assets into programmable digital tokens — drives the demand for secure connectivity infrastructure between on-chain and off-chain environments. Chainlink meets this demand through the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and Decentralized Oracle Networks (DONs), supporting real-time payments and automation in the fields of finance, insurance, and supply chain.

Jefferies stated that although the adoption of digital assets is still in its early stages, tokenization pilot projects are rapidly moving towards practical implementation. LINK is used to pay for services, operate nodes, and staking, so the increasing demand for Chainlink infrastructure could provide direct economic benefits to token holders.

While competitors like LayerZero and Pyth exist, Jefferies assesses that Chainlink's first-mover advantage and network effects could create a sustainable competitive edge in blockchain infrastructure. The value of tokenized assets is currently estimated to reach 30 billion USD (excluding stablecoins), a 253% increase since the beginning of the year. As tokenization helps reduce operational costs and increase liquidity, banks predict that institutional investors will shift to blockchain-based payment layers, placing Chainlink at the center of this transition.

On September 29, Chainlink announced that 24 financial and market infrastructure organizations, including DTCC, SWIFT, and Euroclear, are participating in an initiative to improve the processing of corporate actions. The system integrates artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) to provide structured, validated, multilingual corporate actions data directly into existing systems, reducing processing time from days to minutes.

According to Citi's 2025 Asset Servicing report, the global financial industry currently spends about $58 billion annually on corporate actions such as dividends, mergers, and stock splits, with an automation rate of less than 40%. The new initiative is based on a pilot in 2023, when Chainlink, SWIFT, Euroclear, and several banks tested how large language models handle unstructured notifications and publish standard "golden records" on the blockchain.

In phase 2, the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) validates AI outputs, converting them into ISO 20022 standard messages transmitted via the SWIFT network. Chainlink's CCIP distributes validated records across the blockchain ecosystem of DTCC and many other blockchain networks, allowing regulators, post-trade systems, and smart contracts to access simultaneously. Participants, including UBS, BNP Paribas Securities Services, ANZ, Wellington Management, and DBS Bank, have tested the system achieving near-complete consensus among AI models, while also supporting multilingual publishing, expanding applicability across multiple jurisdictions.

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