Today, Chainlink Labs, the primary contributing developer of Chainlink’s industry-standard decentralized computing platform, launched the Chainlink Digital Assets Sandbox (DAS), powered by Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), to accelerate digital asset innovation within capital markets.
Tokenized real-world assets are blockchain-based tokens that represent physical or traditional financial assets, such as cash, debt, securities, commodities, and real estate, while conferring new opportunities such as fractionalization and programmability alongside better liquidity, transparency, and risk management.
Tokenization is on track to transform global finance by the end of the decade. A study from BCG and ADDX projects the tokenized market will reach $16 trillion or 10% of global GDP by 2030, at which point Northern Trust and HSBC forecast up to 10% of all assets will be digital. However, a 2023 study from the International Securities Services Association (ISSA) found that a third of financial institutions are struggling to integrate DLT technology with legacy infrastructure, and Deloitte indicates a technical skills gap is preventing many companies from moving onchain.
Having enabled over $12 trillion in transaction value, Chainlink provides a comprehensive set of services for creating and securing tokenized assets throughout the multi-chain economy. As illustrated by Swift’s proof of concept, Chainlink CCIP allows traditional financial institutions such as ANZ, Sygnum, and Fidelity International to transact with a wide range of private and public blockchains using their existing infrastructure, unlocking new markets for tokenized assets.
The Chainlink DAS offers an enterprise-grade, turnkey solution for financial institutions that want to reduce the cost, complexity, and time it takes to complete a digital asset proof of concept (PoC) from months to days. The DAS provides ready-to-use business workflows for digital assets across multiple blockchain testnets that allow users to launch and evaluate PoCs individually or with other institutions while leveraging consultancy services from Chainlink Labs.
An initial version of Chainlink’s DAS simplifies tokenized bond workflows. Institutions can use the DAS to digitize a traditional bond into a tokenized asset that can be traded and settled cross-chain using atomic delivery versus payment (DvP) enabled by CCIP. Subsequent versions of the DAS will feature expanded modules and support for additional financial instruments and use cases, including fund tokenization and cross-border payments.