Chainlink and SBI Group Unite to Advance Tokenized Finance in Japan

On August 24, 2025, Chainlink Labs revealed a major alliance with Japan’s financial giant SBI Group, including its digital-asset division, SBI Digital Markets. The collaboration will deploy Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and related infrastructure to power secure tokenized-asset issuance, cross-border payments, and institutional connectivity between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Bridging Traditional and Decentralized Finance

The partnership targets Japan’s sophisticated financial sector, where SBI Group—managing over $200 billion in assets—aims to digitize securities, investment funds, real-world assets (RWAs), and regulated stablecoins. Chainlink’s infrastructure will support various use cases, including:

• Tokenized real estate and bond issuance.
• On-chain Net Asset Value (NAV) reporting for tokenized funds using Chainlink SmartData.
• Proof of Reserve for stablecoin transparency and auditing.

At the core of this initiative lies CCIP, Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability layer. It enables tokenized assets to move safely across multiple blockchains while supporting payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement models for foreign exchange and international transfers.

Building on Prior Collaboration

This announcement follows earlier cooperation between Chainlink and SBI. Under Singapore’s Project Guardian—an initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore—the two firms, alongside UBS Asset Management, tested automated fund administration and transfer-agency processes.

A survey conducted by SBI Digital Asset Holdings highlighted the growing demand for digital assets among institutions: 76% of more than 50 respondents said they plan to invest in tokenized securities. However, they identified the lack of institutional-grade infrastructure as the biggest obstacle to adoption.

Industry Leaders on the Partnership’s Impact

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov emphasized that SBI’s selection of Chainlink standards demonstrates institutional readiness for secure, high-value blockchain transactions. Meanwhile, SBI Group’s Chairman and CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, said the partnership merges SBI’s deep financial network with Chainlink’s interoperability expertise to create compliance-driven digital asset solutions and accelerate DeFi integration across Asia.

This alliance marks a significant step toward merging traditional finance with Web3 infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. For Chainlink, it expands its presence in one of the world’s most regulated yet forward-looking markets. For SBI, it brings its vision of leading in tokenized real-world asset issuance and settlement closer to reality.

As Japan’s financial regulations evolve—potentially including approvals for yen-pegged stablecoins and crypto ETFs—this collaboration could become a blueprint for large-scale tokenized fund deployments, cross-border stablecoin payments, and multi-chain asset operations. Market observers are closely watching to see when the first production-ready applications will go live and whether they can truly enhance liquidity, cut settlement friction, and bring DeFi innovation into institutional finance.