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Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol

Major Aussie bank takes next step to AUD stablecoin after Chainlink test transaction

One of ANZ’s banking executives, Nigel Dobson said the bank sees “real value” in tokenizing real-world assets on-chain like the Aussie dollar.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group is one step closer to launching its bank-issued stablecoin A$DC after the bank successfully executed a test transaction on Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP):

ANZ’s banking services portfolio lead Nigel Dobson said the transaction was a “milestone” moment for the bank in a Sept. 14 statement:

“ANZ recently worked with Chainlink CCIP to complete a test transaction to simulate the purchase of a tokenised asset, facilitated using A$DC and an ANZ-issued NZ-dollar-denominated stablecoin.”

Dobson said the firm has been experimenting with several networks — presumably to test out where the ANZ’s Australian dollar stablecoin can be best utilized:

“We’re actively exploring the use of decentralised networks through a ‘test-and-learn’ approach,” the ANZ executive said.

Dobson said ANZ sees “real value” in tokenizing real-world assets like the Australian dollar and that it can transform the banking industry if the right technologies can come together:

“Tokenised assets are already changing the way banking works and the technology has the potential to do more - if the right pieces can come together.”

ANZ minted the first A$DC stablecoin in March, 2022, which was the first of its kind in Australia.

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However, the other three Big 4 Australian banks — Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and National Australia Bank — recently imposed restrictions and in some instances, full blocks on bank transfers to several “high-risk” cryptocurrency exchanges.

Bendigo Bank followed suit in late July.

These banks cited the need to protect customers against cryptocurrency scams as the main reason behind imposing the restrictions.

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Chainlink launches cross-chain protocol bridging blockchain to TradFi

Several top banks around the world are already collaborating with Chainlink to explore applications for the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol.

The development firm behind the Chainlink protocol and its native LINK token has gone live with its cross-chain protocol, aimed at providing interoperability between traditional financial firms and both public and private blockchains.

In a July 17 post on the Chainlink blog, Chainlink  Labs' Chief Product Officer Kemal El Moujahid announced that its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) has launched under early access on Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

Developers on these platforms will have access to CCIP on their respective testnets on July 20.

CCIP is an interoperability protocol that allows enterprises to transfer data and value between public or private blockchain environments directly from their backend systems.

Chainlink’s interoperability solution uses Swift’s messaging infrastructure, which is used by over 11,000 banks around the world to facilitate international payments and settlement.

In 2021 alone, the network settled about $1.8 quadrillion in transactions from over 11,000 member banks, according to the UnIted States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

A diagram depicting how financial institutions can use CCIP to transact on-chain.Source: Chainlink.

Chainlink co-founder and CEO Sergey Nazarov explained on July 17 that CCIP aims to create a bridge the on-chain and off-chain worlds:

“Just like key standards such as TCP/IP remade a fragmented early internet into the single global internet we all know and use today, we are making CCIP to connect the fragmented public blockchain landscape and the growing bank chain ecosystem into a single Internet of Contracts.”

An interoperability solution that can seamlessly transmit value between networks will be a critical building block for a blockchain-powered society, Nazarov added.

Among the other financial institutions exploring the use of Chainlink’s interoperability solution includes BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Citi, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Clearstream, Euroclear and Lloyds Banking Group, according to Chainlink.

Related: Chainlink Labs offers proof-of-reserve service for embattled exchanges

In addition to the five blockchains integrating CCIP, decentralized finance protocol AAVE is set to implement the interoperability solution, while decentralized derivatives platform Synthetix is already live on the  CCIP mainnet.

The price of the Chainlink token, LINK, increased 9.7% to $7.27 over the past eight hours while the rest of the market remained relatively neutral, according to CoinGecko.

The LINK token surged 7.5% following the news of CCIP’s launch on mainnet. Source: CoinGecko

Cointelegraph reached out to Chainlink Labs for comment but did not recieve an immediate response.

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