Collaborative Effort between Avalanche and Chainlink for On-Chain Asset Settlement in Australasia
Mitchell Nixon
The outcomes of a recent partnership between the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Chainlink Labs have been unveiled. The collaboration focused on linking the Avalanche and Ethereum blockchain networks to facilitate on-chain settlement solutions.
Utilising Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP), ANZ showcased its ability to enable clients to effortlessly access, trade, and settle tokenized assets across various networks and currencies.
Using CCIP, ANZ simulated the acquisition of tokenized assets on the Ethereum network priced in one stablecoin, with transaction initiation and settlement taking place on Avalanche using another stablecoin.
At the heart of this endeavour lies the principle of “Delivery versus Payment (DvP),” a widely accepted settlement protocol for securities transactions. By tokenizing both assets and payments on a unified blockchain infrastructure, ANZ aims to potentially revolutionise conventional DvP procedures, ensuring seamless, direct settlement without intermediaries.
Lee Ross, the technology domain lead at ANZ, shared insights on the collaboration, stating:
“Chainlink’s CCIP played a key role in abstracting away the blockchain complexity of moving tokenized assets across different chains and ensuring atomic cross-chain DvP.”
The process involved utilising a portal known as DAS to acquire a tokenized ANZ-issued New Zealand dollar stablecoin (NZ$DC) via Avalanche.
Subsequently, on the Ethereum network, tokenized Australian nature-based assets were purchased as NFTs, denominated in tokenized ANZ-issued Australian dollar stablecoins (A$DC).
As outlined in the announcement, ANZ leveraged its Avalanche Evergreen Subnet, featuring Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) compatibility, customised gas token, and permissioning.
Anurag Soin, the lead product manager for digital added services at ANZ, remarked:
“We look forward to continuing to test how blockchain, smart contracts, and tokenization can improve the rails of the global financial system.”
ANZ’s partnership with Chainlink and Avalanche underscores the ongoing integration of traditional finance and decentralised finance (DeFi) within the tokenized asset landscape. Serving over 8.5 million retail and institutional clients across nearly 30 markets, ANZ delivers essential banking services.
As the initiative advances, ANZ aims to roll out the solution on blockchain mainnets, heralding a new era of blockchain-powered asset settlement in the financial sector.
In February, Citigroup, an American investment bank and financial services provider, collaborated with Ava Labs, the developer behind the Avalanche network, to execute a proof-of-concept for tokenizing private equity funds via the Avalanche blockchain.