Key Highlights
- Chainlink introduced Fulcrum to support institutional financing and collateral management across public and private blockchains.
- The platform uses Chainlink Runtime Environment, CCIP, and Data Streams to coordinate agreements, cross-chain transfers, and collateral valuations.
- At Sibos 2026, Chainlink and DTCC demonstrated a cross-chain securities financing transaction using Fulcrum.
Chainlink, a decentralized oracle platform, has introduced Fulcrum, a solution designed for institutional financing and collateral management across public and private blockchains.
According to the official announcement on Wednesday, the platform addresses challenges associated with tokenized assets, including fragmented liquidity, disconnected financing venues, and the need for customized integrations. These factors have limited the movement of assets beyond their original platforms.
According to estimates from Citi cited by Chainlink, roughly a quarter of institutional collateral remains idle because of settlement cutoffs and operational issues, leading to approximately $346 million in forgone revenue each year for the average Tier 1 firm.
Fulcrum functions as a cross-chain repurchase agreement, or repo, process. It separates the venue where a financing agreement is managed from the networks on which cash and collateral settle. Counterparties can select eligible assets, establish terms such as restrictions on collateral rehypothecation, and coordinate settlement across supported chains through a single gateway.
How Fulcrum works
The system includes 24/7 operational support for identifying changes in exposures and responding according to agreement terms. Chainlink does not custody assets, serve as a counterparty, or operate a trading venue. Agreements are executed among participants and governed by the integrated venues.
Repurchase agreements involve one party providing securities as collateral in exchange for cash, with an agreement to repurchase them later at a set price. Extending this process to tokenized assets requires coordinating cash, collateral, and terms across different blockchains.
Fulcrum combines several Chainlink components into a single workflow. The Chainlink Runtime Environment, or CRE, orchestrates the process by coordinating data, systems, and contract calls throughout the transaction lifecycle. It links agreement creation, collateral verification, and cash release.
The Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, or CCIP, enables communication and asset transfers between public and private blockchains. Chainlink Data Streams provide market data for valuing collateral and supporting elements such as mutually agreed haircuts.
Currently supported chains include EVM and non-EVM networks compatible with CRE and CCIP. This setup allows cash release on one network to depend on collateral verification under an agreement managed on another, supporting cross-chain delivery-versus-delivery.
The platform is being integrated with traditional finance environments scheduled to launch soon, as well as existing venues. Participants can compare terms and route transactions to a chosen venue for execution and governance.
Applications across market participants
Banks and dealers can source and deploy liquidity at any time. Prime brokers can provide financing to hedge funds using a wider range of tokenized collateral. Agent lenders and custodians can use clients’ tokenized securities in secured lending.
Funds and insurers can place tokenized cash into secured transactions that match their mandates. Asset managers and issuers of tokenized funds and stablecoins can designate their products as eligible collateral. Corporate treasuries can place idle cash into yield-bearing arrangements under defined terms.
DTCC collaboration and demonstration
At Sibos 2026, Chainlink and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation demonstrated a cross-chain securities financing transaction using Fulcrum. DTCC’s Dan Doney and Sergey Nazarov of Chainlink presented the collaboration, which focused on 24/7 collateral management.
DTCC’s Collateral AppChain, a shared platform for collateral, will use the Chainlink Runtime Environment and Chainlink data standards. It is designed to support near real-time collateral management across financial markets and blockchains.
Planned features include orchestration, data and automation capabilities, pairing of asset prices, valuations and movement, and tools for managing collateral-related market risk. The DTCC Collateral AppChain is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2027.
Chainlink will supply the runtime environment for system orchestration, CCIP for interoperability and cross-chain messaging between participating networks and the DTCC Collateral AppChain, and data feeds for verifiable market data used in valuations.
Chainlink expands financial infrastructure work
On September 22, Chainlink announced a partnership with Infosys to explore blockchain infrastructure for financial institutions. The work covers cross-chain connectivity, compliance, financial data, and reserve verification across multiple components of Chainlink’s stack. No specific bank or institution was named as a deployment partner, and no financial terms or production timeline were disclosed.
On September 17, S&P Global announced an agreement to acquire OpenZeppelin, a smart-contract security company. The acquisition is intended to bring OpenZeppelin’s tools to S&P Global as it expands its work in stablecoins, tokenized funds, and decentralized finance.
The deal value was not disclosed. OpenZeppelin’s open-source smart-contract library has been used in contracts that have moved more than $37 trillion in value over time, a figure that reflects cumulative transaction volume through contracts employing the technology rather than assets managed or owned by OpenZeppelin.
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