Grayscale said Chainlink will be at the center of the next big phase of blockchain adoption, calling the project the “critical connective tissue” that connects crypto to traditional finance.
In a recent study reportthe asset manager argued that the growing Chainlink (LINK) suite of software tools is emerging as essential infrastructure for tokenization, cross-chain settlement, and the broader shift toward real-world assets on blockchain rails.
“A more accurate description of Chainlink today would be a modular middleware that enables on-chain applications to securely use off-chain data, interact across blockchains, and meet enterprise-level compliance needs,” Grayscale wrote.
The firm added that this growing footprint has helped turn LINK into the largest non-Tier 1 crypto asset by market capitalization (excluding stablecoins), giving investors exposure to multiple ecosystems rather than a single chain.
Related: Asset manager Grayscale Investments files for US IPO
Chainlink will conduct the tokenization boom
According to Grayscale, tokenization is the clearest path where Chainlink’s value becomes apparent. Today, almost all financial assets, from securities to real estate, are still recorded on off-chain ledgers. In order for these assets to gain efficiency and the ability to program blockchains, they must be tokenized, verified and connected to external data sources.
“We expect Chainlink to play a central role in orchestrating the tokenization process, and it has announced a number of partnerships, including S&P Global and FTSE/Russel, that should help it do so,” the asset manager wrote.
The tokenized asset market has grown from $5 billion to more than $35.6 billion by early 2023. according to at RWA.xyz.
Related: Emory University Raises Stake in Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF to $52 Million
Chainlink, JPMorgan, Ondo Complete the first crosschain DvP settlement
In June, Chainlink, JPMorgan’s Kinexys network, and Ondo Finance completed a cross-chain delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement between a permissioned banking payment system and a public blockchain testnet.
The pilot connected Kinexys Digital Payments, JPMorgan’s permissioned payments network, with the Ondo Chain test network, which specializes in real-world tokenized assets. Using Chainlink’s Runtime Environment (CRE) as a coordination layer, the settlement exchanged Ondo’s tokenized fund of US Treasuries, OUSG, for a fixed payment without the assets leaving their original chains.
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