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ANZ Joins Chainlink, Singapore’s MAS Project Guardian for Tokenised Real-World Assets
- ANZ has partnered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Chainlink Labs and ADDX to join Project Guardian, an exploratory use case focussed on improving access to tokenised real-world assets and improving blockchain interoperability.
- ANZ says joining Project Guardian will allow the bank to demonstrate the advantages of using blockchain technology combined with its own Australian dollar stablecoin, A$DC.
ANZ Bank has become the first Australian bank to join Project Guardian, a real-world asset tokenisation and blockchain interoperability exploratory use case being run by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in partnership with Chainlink Labs and ADDX.
According to ANZ’s statement, the bank will be focussing on working with Chainlink Labs and ADDX to explore “interoperability between private blockchains to exchange tokenised real-world assets, such as commercial paper.” Lack of blockchain interoperability has increasingly become a hurdle to the wider adoption of blockchain tech by TradFi institutions.
Related: AVAX Soars as ANZ Bank, Chainlink and Avalanche Explore New DeFi Frontiers
ANZ: Digital Asset Ecosystem Essential For Future Of Finance
Speaking about the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which leads Project Guardian, ANZ Singapore Country Head, Mark Evans, said it had a long history of fostering innovation:
MAS is a global leader in its unwavering commitment to digitise the financial system through industry collaboration. ANZ has been in Singapore for 50 years and over that time, our customers have benefited from the bank having access to a regulatory environment that truly fosters innovation.
Mark Evans, ANZ Singapore Country Head Evans added that ANZ sees the development of a “stable, secure” digital asset ecosystem as crucial to the future of finance, saying:
We’re pleased to join Project Guardian and play a role in fast-tracking the development of a stable, secure digital asset ecosystem which will be essential to meeting the future needs of our customers across the region.
Mark Evans, ANZ Singapore Country Head Blockchain Interoperability Important for Wider Adoption
ANZ Banking Services Lead, Nigel Dobson, says that the current fragmented nature of the blockchain ecosystem, with tokenised assets sitting on many incompatible chains, presents a significant problem for TradFi institutions looking to take advantage of the technology:
Tokenised asset markets are highly fragmented, with tokenised assets and related services developed across different blockchains that are not natively interoperable. This can limit the adoption of tokenised assets, while making the integration process for financial institutions complex.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ Banking Services Lead Dobson added that joining Project Guardian will give ANZ the opportunity to show how the use of blockchain technology coupled with ANZ’s own Australian dollar stablecoin, A$DC, can improve the customer experience:
We are pleased to join Project Guardian and look forward to demonstrating how our emerging Digital Assets capabilities, such as A$DC, can be used to support our customers to move goods and capital across the region.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ Banking Services Lead What Exactly Is Project Guardian?
Project Guardian was launched in 2022 and is described by MAS as “a collaborative initiative between policymakers and the financial industry to enhance liquidity and efficiency of financial markets through asset tokenisation.”
Related: Swift Network to Offer Interoperable Digital Asset Payments to Clients
The project’s primary objectives are to create industry standards for commercial asset tokenisation, work with governments to establish policy guidelines and frameworks, and to develop a “sound and sustainable” digital asset ecosystem.
According to the MAS website, Project Guardian’s top priority right now is tackling blockchain interoperability and thereby enabling digital assets to be traded across numerous separate blockchain networks and liquidity pools.
Author
Jody McDonald
Jody is a Brisbane-based freelance writer who specialises in writing about business, technology, and the future of work.
