Driving Financial Innovation: ANZ And Chainlink Release Cross-Chain Settlement Study

“Big Four” Australia bank, ANZ, and Chainlink are leading the way for cryptocurrency adoption among financial institutions, as the partners finished their research into using tokenised assets last month. The study, published as Cross-Chain Settlement of Tokenized Assets Using Chainlink CCIP, interrogated how banks could leverage Chainlink’s CCIP to settle international transactions cheaper and more efficiently via the blockchain. The outcome was positive for the crypto industry, with both ANZ and Chainlink bullish about the potential for a bank-issued stablecoin improving how institutions process fiat currency transfers.

Highlights from the study

There were several highlights in the 14-page study that showed just how significant the impact of blockchain technology could be on the current banking system:

• Chainlink’s flagship product, the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), demonstrated the ability to seamlessly transact stablecoins across several blockchains. This means that banks could offer their clients a number of settlement options without worrying about blockchain compatibility issues.

• Despite the complicated cross-chain capabilities, customers would only need to interact with a single interface and currency. For example, Australian ANZ customers would send and receive A$DC, while the CCIP handles any conversion requirements.

Part of the study involved a random ANZ client using the bank’s web app to buy a tokenised stablecoin (A$DC) on the Ethereum Sepolia network. To complicate matters, they used a different stablecoin (NZ$DC) from another blockchain (Avalanche Fuji). Everything went off without a hitch and the successful transaction demonstrated the CCIP’s cross-chain abilities as a powerful tool for forward-thinking financial institutions.

How could the study transform banking in Australia?

ANZ’s Technology Domain Lead, Lee Ross, was particularly pleased with the study’s results:

ANZ is headed for a collision course with blockchain technology, and Chainlink will accompany them for the ride. There are still a few roadblocks before this study’s results are implemented, such as scalability and regulation. However, the report demonstrated that blockchain technology could vastly improve settlement times and remove the need for intermediaries, all the while providing a simple cross-chain experience for ANZ customers.

The report concludes: “Similar to how interoperability standards transformed the Internet and global banking, a cross-chain interoperability standard could accelerate the adoption of tokenized assets amongst financial institutions.”