Chainlink Teams Up With Japan’s SBI Group: Could This Deal Ignite the Next Tokenization Wave?

Chainlink, the leading blockchain oracle network, has announced a unique partnership with Japan’s SBI Group, a financial giant managing over $200 billion in assets.

The collaboration is set to accelerate the adoption of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), stablecoins, and blockchain-powered cross-border payments in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region.

SBI, with its deep financial expertise, and Chainlink, known for its interoperability protocols and trusted oracles, aim to build the institutional-grade infrastructure needed to bring traditional finance closer to blockchain.

This comes as demand for tokenized securities grows, an SBI Digital Asset Holdings survey revealed 76% of financial institutions are ready to invest in tokenized assets but are held back by weak infrastructure.

SBI and Chainlink to Power Stablecoins and Cross-Border Payments

The partnership’s first focus will be tokenization of real estate and government bonds, powered by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). This will allow institutions to transfer tokenized assets seamlessly across multiple blockchains while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Chainlink’s SmartData will also enable on-chain publishing of net asset value (NAV) data for tokenized funds. This innovation enhances liquidity, transparency, and efficiency for fund managers.

Stablecoins are another key area of collaboration. By integrating Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve, the partnership ensures that stablecoin reserves can be verified in real time, strengthening transparency and trust in settlement systems.

Additionally, SBI and Chainlink plan to build payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement solutions for foreign exchange and global transfers, eliminating the need for an intermediary bridge currency.

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov emphasized that SBI’s adoption of Chainlink infrastructure is a strong signal that blockchain is entering a large-scale production phase. He explained that earlier pilots in tokenization and stablecoin settlement are now maturing into real-world financial applications.

SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao echoed this view, calling Chainlink a “natural partner” for building secure, compliant systems for cross-border finance.

The partnership builds on prior collaborations, including Project Guardian in Singapore, where SBI, Chainlink, and UBS Asset Management tested automated fund services using smart contracts.

With Japan’s regulatory space warming up to digital assets and stablecoins, this partnership could mark a turning point for institutional adoption in Asia, potentially igniting the next big wave of tokenization worldwide.

Cover image from ChatGPT, LINKUSDC chart from Tradingview