Today, industry-standard oracle platform Chainlink launched CCIP 2.0, the latest evolution of its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), which allows institutions to securely distribute compliant tokenized assets across multiple private and public blockchains without rearchitecting their existing systems.
As the only interoperability solution to meet ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 institutional security standards, CCIP’s blockchain-agnostic, neutral architecture is the foundation for tokenizing $867 trillion worth of assets including cash, foreign currencies, money market funds, equities, and consumer credit onchain.
CCIP’s growing ecosystem comprises top asset issuers and custodians (BitGo, Coinbase, Taurus, xStocks), governments (Wyoming’s FRNT stable token), and major financial institutions (21X, ANZ Bank, SBI Digital Markets, Swift, Sygnum and Fidelity International).
“With CCIP 2.0, those institutions will gain greater control over the security and compliance of cross-chain transactions,” said 21X Group’s founder and CEO, Max Heinzle, in an official announcement.
CCIP 2.0 solves increasing fragmentation that makes it difficult for institutions to move assets and liquidity between private and public blockchains in different regulatory environments. Institutions can now distribute tokenized assets across chains while meeting rigorous standards for security, compliance, and speed.
“Using CCIP 2.0’s enhanced verification and approval capabilities, we’re able to expand across networks and markets with greater confidence, control, and scalability,” said Nigel Dobson, Executive General Manager, Payments Services at ANZ Bank.
2.0 launch partners and industry supporters include AllUnity, Amazon Web Services, ANZ Bank, Archax, Bottomline, Deutsche Börse Group’s Crypto Finance, Fidelity International, Further Asset Management, GoldZip by the Hong Kong Gold Exchange, Google Cloud, Hastra by Figure, Infosys, Nethermind, SBI Digital Markets, Sygnum, Taurus, TokenX by SCBX, and xStocks.
New 2.0 features include user-operated Cross-Chain Verifiers (CCVs), which add an extra verification step before CCIP can execute a cross-chain transaction. Built-in compliance functionality automatically enforces internal risk and regulatory requirements such as KYC and AML. Customizable speed settings can be configured to support near-instant transfers or maximize security.
“By enabling institutions to spin up their own Cross-Chain Verifiers directly on Amazon Web Services, we provide them with another layer of assurance on top of Chainlink’s cross-chain infrastructure, right within the environment where they already operate,” said Jane Ginsburg, GTM Head for Capital Markets and Fintech at AWS.
“Every financial institution today is coming onchain,” said Chainlink Labs’ Chief Business Officer, Johann Eid, in a video announcement.
“Chainlink is the only network that has secured enough value to be able to earn the trust from these institutions. CCIP 2.0 is the missing piece for institutions to come onchain.”
CCIP maintains the blockchain industry’s highest level of cross-chain security. Since an April LayerZero exploit caused nearly $300 million in losses across DeFi, numerous top protocols representing more than $15 billion in TVL have migrated to CCIP.
“Historically, legacy bridges have lost billions due to insecure infrastructure, while in-house builds are slow and expensive and institutions’ proprietary networks can’t earn the trust of their peers,” said Eid.
“CCIP solves this challenge by providing a shared, ISO 27001- and SOC 2 Type 2-certified infrastructure that has already enabled tens of trillions of dollars in transaction value for the world’s largest financial institutions and DeFi protocols. No other solution combines a strong security track record and support for institutional risk controls with proven adoption and credible neutrality that every institution can trust.”
To learn more about CCIP 2.0, read the official blog post.