SBI Group & Chainlink Forge Strategic Alliance to Supercharge Institutional Digital Asset Adoption

Tokyo, August 24, 2025 – SBI Group, one of Japan’s premier financial conglomerates managing over USD 200 billion in assets, announced a strategic partnership with Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle platform, to hasten institutional adoption of digital assets across global markets, starting in Japan.

Driven by rising interest in tokenized securities—76% of over 50 surveyed financial institutions expressed intent to invest in them for their cost-efficiency and faster settlements—SBI and Chainlink aim to address a critical roadblock: the lack of institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure.

What the Partnership Encompasses

Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) Leveraging Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), the two will enable secure, compliant, and private cross-chain transfers of tokenized assets such as real estate and bonds.

Tokenized Funds with On-Chain NAV Through Chainlink’s SmartData, fund managers can publish real-time net asset value (NAV) data on-chain—boosting liquidity, transparency, and operational efficiency.

Payment-Versus-Payment (PvP) for Cross-Border FX Using CCIP, SBI and Chainlink are exploring PvP settlement methods, enabling atomic, near-instant foreign exchange and cross-border transactions using tokenized FX.

Regulated Stablecoins with On-Chain Reserve Transparency Chainlink Proof of Reserve will provide reliable, verifiable confirmations of stablecoin backing—supporting trust and compliance in institutional stablecoin issuance.

Backing and Vision

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov commented, “It has been great working with the SBI team… excited to see our great work move towards state-of-production usage at large scale.”

Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman & CEO of SBI Holdings, added, “Chainlink is a natural partner for SBI… together developing groundbreaking, secure, compliance-focused solutions… that accelerate widespread digital asset adoption in Japan and the region.”

Strategic Implications

Japan as the Launchpad: With its mature financial ecosystem and progressive regulatory posture, Japan is an ideal testing ground before scaling to broader APAC markets.

High Institutional Appetite: The 76% intent to invest in tokenized securities underscores demand—but also highlights gaps in current infrastructure. This partnership aims to fill that void.

Operational Efficiency & Transparency: On-chain NAV and Proof of Reserve bring unprecedented transparency; CCIP and PvP pave the way for streamlined, compliant cross-chain financial operations.

Foundation from Previous Pilots: The collaboration builds on successful pilots like Singapore’s Project Guardian, where SBI Digital Markets, Chainlink, and UBS Asset Management demonstrated automated fund administration via smart contracts.

Looking Ahead

This alliance positions SBI and Chainlink to set institutional-grade standards in digital asset tokenization, payments, and compliance. As adoption scales from Japan into the broader Asia-Pacific region, their combined expertise could significantly advance the next generation of on-chain finance.