Chainlink launches cross-chain protocol bridging blockchain to TradFi

The development firm behind the Chainlink protocol and its native LINK token has gone live with its cross-chain protocol, aimed at providing interoperability between traditional financial firms and both public and private blockchains.

In a July 17 post on the Chainlink blog, Chainlink Labs Chief Product Officer Kemal El Moujahid announced that its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) has launched under early access on Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism.

Developers on these platforms will have access to CCIP on their respective testnets on July 20.

1/ The Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) has officially launched on Avalanche, Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon mainnets.#LinkTheWorld pic.twitter.com/SdLVyaapg3

— Chainlink (@chainlink) July 17, 2023

CCIP is an interoperability protocol that allows enterprises to transfer data and value between public or private blockchain environments directly from their backend systems.

Chainlink’s interoperability solution uses Swift’s messaging infrastructure, which is used by over 11,000 banks around the world to facilitate international payments and settlement.

In 2021 alone, the network settled about $1.8 quadrillion in transactions from over 11,000 member banks, according to the UnIted States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

A diagram depicting how financial institutions can use CCIP to transact on-chain. Source: Chainlink

Chainlink co-founder and CEO Sergey Nazarov explained on July 17 that CCIP aims to create a bridge the on-chain and off-chain worlds:

“Just like key standards such as TCP/IP remade a fragmented early internet into the single global internet we all know and use today, we are making CCIP to connect the fragmented public blockchain landscape and the growing bank chain ecosystem into a single Internet of Contracts.”

An interoperability solution that can seamlessly transmit value between networks will be a critical building block for a blockchain-powered society, Nazarov added.

Among the other financial institutions exploring the use of Chainlink’s interoperability solution includes BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Citi, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Clearstream, Euroclear and Lloyds Banking Group, according to Chainlink.

Related: Chainlink Labs offers proof-of-reserve service for embattled exchanges

In addition to the five blockchains integrating CCIP, the decentralized finance protocol AAVE is set to implement the interoperability solution, while the decentralized derivatives platform Synthetix is already live on the CCIP mainnet.

At time of publication, the price of Chainlink’s LINK token had increased 9.7% to $7.27 over the previous eight hours, while the rest of the market remained relatively neutral, according to CoinGecko.