FTSE Russell and Major Financial Institutions Explore Onchain Data Standards at SmartCon 2025
FTSE Russell and Major Financial Institutions Explore Onchain Data Standards at SmartCon 2025
🏦 Wall Street Goes Onchain
Major financial institutions are accelerating their move to blockchain infrastructure.
At SmartCon 2025, leaders from FTSE Russell, Tradeweb, Deutsche Börse, and Digital Asset discussed how onchain data and institutional interoperability are reshaping global finance.
Key developments include:
- FTSE Russell's Head of Digital Assets emphasizing the need for data standardization onchain
- Focus on AI-driven automation converging with blockchain technology
- Institutional push for cross-chain interoperability standards
This follows recent momentum from major players:
- DTCC planning to tokenize $100 trillion in assets
- J.P. Morgan highlighting Chainlink's critical role at Federal Reserve conferences
- S&P Global and Citi advancing onchain finance adoption
The discussions signal a coordinated industry effort to establish blockchain infrastructure standards that can support traditional financial markets at scale.
"Chainlink opens the door for you." At SmartCon 2025, leaders from Chainlink Build projects @Brickken, @Dolomite_io, @TRUFNETWORK by @truflation, and @spaceandtime discussed the significant impact joining the Build program had on their protocol's success ↓
"If we want to bring banking and capital markets onchain, we need to solve privacy ... This is where our newest building block comes into the picture, Chainlink Confidential Compute." At SmartCon 2025, Lorenz Breidenbach, Head of Research at Chainlink Labs, introduces Chainlink
“Standards are going to be critical to ensure we can all interoperate and work at the same level”—Nadine Chakar, Global Head of Digital Assets, DTCC. Leaders from DTCC, Citi, Taurus, & Chainlink discuss what’s needed to create a unified digital asset ecosystem ↓
If you can’t avoid exposing private data. If you can’t privately run workflows across chains. If you can’t privately manage counterparties, roles, and permissions. You can't have onchain capital markets. Chainlink Confidential Compute is the missing piece.
With Chainlink Confidential Compute, you get: • Private smart contracts as a new industry primitive • A privacy-preserving data economy • Compliance adherence with selective data disclosure • Confidential interoperability The result: Institutional onchain finance at scale.
“CRE becomes invaluable because we have all these moving parts—Proof of Reserves, real-time NAV, CCIP … that becomes the orchestration layer … and you create one ecosystem that’s seamlessly connected, and without CRE, that really has not been possible.” Cory Pugh, CEO of
“Tokenized assets should be as frictionless as sending an email.” At SmartCon 2025, leaders from Banco Inter, Hadron by Tether, Bridgetower Capital, and Kiln discuss how the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) simplifies onchain development for TradFi & DeFi ↓
"We're looking to tokenize our $100 trillion in assets"—Daniel Doney, CTO of Digital Assets at DTCC. At SmartCon 2025, leaders from Euroclear, DTCC, and EY discuss the massive opportunity of upgrading financial market infrastructure using blockchains and secure interoperability
Scaling onchain finance requires a globally agreed-upon interoperability standard. Hear Ryan Rugg, Head of Digital Assets at Citi's Treasury and Trade Solutions, explain at SmartCon 2025 ↓
“Standards are going to be critical to ensure we can all interoperate and work at the same level”—Nadine Chakar, Global Head of Digital Assets, DTCC. Leaders from DTCC, Citi, Taurus, & Chainlink discuss what’s needed to create a unified digital asset ecosystem ↓
“Standards are ... foundational for the interoperability of fast-moving players.” At SmartCon 2025, leaders from Swift, GLEIF, Chainlink Labs, & GBBC explored how secure standards are unifying fragmented ecosystems into a seamless digital asset economy ↓
NEW: CHAINLINK AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE Just now, @SergeyNazarov joined key decision makers from J.P. Morgan & Amazon at the Federal Reserve Fintech Conference to discuss how global payment systems & digital assets are converging. Full video ↓
“The next age for our space ... will be taking [it] from a few hundred billion dollars to trillions of dollars.” @EidJohann explains how Chainlink enabled the initial phase of DeFi growth & how it's powering the next wave of adoption via tokenization ↓
"The second stage of connection for our space is not connecting crypto to more crypto. It’s connecting the global financial system to DeFi." Chainlink Labs CBO @EidJohann’s SmartCon 2025 keynote on how connecting traditional markets to DeFi through Chainlink is vital to creating
“We are certainly going to live in a very multi-chain world … so it's great to have partners like Chainlink that can bridge all that infrastructure together.” At SmartCon 2025, @OndoFinance CEO @nathanlallman discussed the rise of institutional chains and highlighted
At SmartCon 2025, @OndoFinance CEO Nathan Allman and Chainlink Labs President of Capital Markets Fernando Vazquez took the stage to discuss the next era of onchain market infrastructure and how it is unlocking global liquidity and building real financial utility onchain ↓
“I would look at interoperability across instruments, or across different monies, and across infrastructure, which is where Sergey’s team plays a very critical role.“ At the Federal Reserve’s Fintech Conference, J.P. Morgan’s Umar Farooq highlighted Chainlink as a critical
NEW: CHAINLINK AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE Just now, @SergeyNazarov joined key decision makers from J.P. Morgan & Amazon at the Federal Reserve Fintech Conference to discuss how global payment systems & digital assets are converging. Full video ↓
ICYMI: In support of the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s embedded supervision initiative, Chainlink, @ApexGlobalGroup, @blupryntco, and @hackenclub have successfully created a solution for institutional-grade stablecoin infrastructure. Learn more: bma.bm/news-and-press…
Chainlink & @ApexGlobalGroup have successfully created an institutional-grade stablecoin infrastructure solution supporting the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s embedded supervision initiative. prnewswire.com/news-releases/… Conducted in collaboration with the Bermuda Monetary Authority
At SmartCon 2025, Bermuda Premier E. David Burt shares how Bermuda is leading digital asset innovation and regulation—supported by Chainlink’s recent work with the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
"We've been powering protocols, then markets, now nations. That is what winning looks like." At SmartCon 2025, Apurva Joshi, CPO at Chainlink Labs, explains how the ability to solve hard problems has taken Chainlink from powering DeFi to being integrated by leading financial
CHAINLINK PRODUCT KEYNOTE At SmartCon 2025, Apurva Joshi, Chief Product Officer at Chainlink Labs, explains how Chainlink is solving foundational challenges across data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy, and why these breakthroughs are unlocking a scalable,
Over 80% of global financial activity happens OTC and off-exchange. So why does this matter? Because capital markets run on confidentiality—identity, counterparties, and deal terms are rarely public. To match what institutions expect, onchain finance needs: 1) Confidential
“By using partners like Chainlink, we’re able to move … very quickly & completely update financial markets.” —Dan Doney, Managing Director, CTO at DTCC
The Premier of Bermuda, E. David Burt, discusses Chainlink's recent work under the Bermuda Monetary Authority: "Chainlink was successful, and they are progressing with the Bermuda Monetary Authority right now on an embedded supervision pilot with DeFi protocols.”
At SmartCon 2025, Bermuda Premier E. David Burt shares how Bermuda is leading digital asset innovation and regulation—supported by Chainlink’s recent work with the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
"A lot of the solutions will come from getting our data onchain with Chainlink and figuring out where the standards are going to be set."—Kristen Mierzwa, Head of Digital Assets, FTSE Russell At SmartCon 2025, leaders from FTSE Russell, Tradeweb, Deutsche Börse, Digital Asset,
“If you’re not able to make this movement freely between the chains, you’re really left with the same world we had before.” At SmartCon 2025, DTCC Digital Assets CTO Dan Doney emphasizes interoperability as critical to enabling instant settlement across blockchains, highlighting
Stablecoins have quickly emerged as one of the most critical components of onchain finance. At SmartCon 2025, decision makers from S&P Global, Apex Group, AllUnity, and Fiserv explored how stablecoins are streamlining value movement, reshaping the rails underpinning global
A new privacy standard for onchain finance. What Chainlink Confidential Compute unlocks: blog.chain.link/chainlink-conf… • Private smart contracts, verifiable by default. • Private access to data, APIs, and identity providers. • Private tokens, transactions, and cross-chain
"The second stage of connection for our space is not connecting crypto to more crypto. It’s connecting the global financial system to DeFi." Chainlink Labs CBO @EidJohann’s SmartCon 2025 keynote on how connecting traditional markets to DeFi through Chainlink is vital to creating
"We see that the evolution of traditional players into an onchain world is well underway." Chuck Mounts, Chief DeFi Officer at S&P Global, joined Chainlink at SmartCon to discuss how trusted data, credit scoring infrastructure, and stablecoin risk frameworks are accelerating
Every pillar of the global financial system depends on privacy as a core principle. Without privacy, institutional-grade smart contracts simply aren't possible. That's why this week we announced Chainlink Confidential Compute, a breakthrough service that unlocks new onchain
"Privacy is the final big unlock that #crypto needs to go to true mainstream adoption." - Chainlink Co-Founder
“Tokenized assets should be as frictionless as sending an email.” At SmartCon 2025, leaders from Banco Inter, Hadron by Tether, Bridgetower Capital, and Kiln discuss how the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) simplifies onchain development for TradFi & DeFi ↓
“We now want to provide our institutional-grade data onchain.” Dr. Alireza Dorfard discusses Deutsche Börse Group’s recent integration to bring its trusted market data to 40+ blockchains via Chainlink. Watch now ↓
🏦 UBS Launches First Live Tokenized Fund with Chainlink
**UBS and Chainlink have launched the first live tokenized fund workflow** in production, marking a significant milestone for institutional blockchain adoption. The solution uses Chainlink's Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) standard and Runtime Environment to automate fund subscriptions and redemptions on-chain. **DigiFT's new whitepaper** details how this system operates within Hong Kong's regulatory framework. Key features include: - Automated transaction recordkeeping through smart contracts - Compliance with existing regulatory standards - Scalable infrastructure for tokenized assets Developed under Hong Kong Cyberport's digital asset program, this represents **real-world implementation** of blockchain technology in traditional finance, demonstrating how major banks can integrate on-chain operations while maintaining regulatory compliance.
🔗 Chainlink Slows Down
**Chainlink integration activity decreased significantly this week** with 18 new integrations across 6 services and 15 chains, down from 52 integrations the previous week. **Key new integrations include:** - Major blockchain networks: Aptos, Bittensor, Hedera, Injective - DeFi protocols: Bedrock DeFi, ApeX DEX - Infrastructure projects: Dusk Foundation, Etherlink **Chains seeing activity:** - Established networks: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain - Emerging chains: AB Blockchain, Memento, XDC The integration pace has **slowed from recent weeks** when Chainlink saw 52-62 weekly integrations. This week's 18 integrations represents a more moderate expansion rate. [Explore complete ecosystem](https://www.chainlinkecosystem.com/)
Messari Report: Chainlink Evolves Into Full-Stack Institutional Platform
**Chainlink transforms beyond price feeds** into a comprehensive institutional platform, according to Messari's latest Pulse report. The oracle network now serves as **infrastructure for tokenized assets**, combining multiple services into one orchestration layer: - Data feeds and compliance tools - Programmability and interoperability features - Privacy-focused solutions Top institutions and DeFi protocols are adopting Chainlink's **global standards** to support the complete lifecycle of tokenized financial products. This positions Chainlink as the **foundational layer** for stablecoins, tokenized funds, and financial applications requiring verifiable, compliant infrastructure. Read the full analysis: [Messari Report](https://messari.io/report/chainlink-a-full-stack-institutional-platform)
21shares Co-Founder Reveals Growth Strategy at SmartCon 2025
At SmartCon 2025, **21shares Co-Founder Ophelia Snyder** outlined the company's disciplined approach to making crypto accessible globally. Key highlights from her presentation: - Emphasized that **changing the world takes time** but requires consistent, step-by-step progress - Shared foundational principles behind 21shares' growth strategy - Focused on expanding crypto accessibility to broader audiences worldwide Snyder's talk provided insights into how traditional financial infrastructure can bridge the gap between crypto and mainstream adoption. [Watch the full presentation](https://youtu.be/E5K7Rvdn0JI)