Chainlink is teaming up with a coalition of banks managing over $10 trillion in combined assets to bring real-time, stablecoin-powered cross-border FX settlement to market within the next year.
The initiative, dubbed Project Pangea, is being positioned as a fundamental shake-up of global FX infrastructure, according to Niki Ariyasinghe, Chainlink’s vice president for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, who spoke in a video interview on Tuesday. Joining Chainlink in the coalition are Qivalis, a euro-stablecoin consortium backed by 37 European banks, and UniKA, a Korean banking alliance made up of more than 10 commercial banks.
At its core, the project is exploring how to shift FX settlement away from the standard two-day (T+2) waiting period toward near-instant (T+0) settlement, using regulated stablecoins pegged to the euro and South Korean won. The group also plans to test whether these stablecoins can settle through atomic payment-versus-payment (PvP) transactions — a method where both legs of a currency trade complete simultaneously, or not at all, cutting out counterparty and settlement risk in the process.
Ariyasinghe was quick to frame the project as more than a research exercise. “This is not just a POC,” he said. “Everyone’s coming in with their eyes wide open. Appetite is very much about building real infrastructure… The target is live transactions within a legal, regulatory compliance framework within the next 12 months.”
A $150 billion trade corridor in focus
The first target for Project Pangea is the trade corridor between Europe and South Korea — a route that handles more than $150 billion in goods and services each year, placing it among the 15 largest trade corridors globally. The choice also lines up with broader regional momentum: roughly 60% of all global stablecoin transaction volume currently flows through Asia.
“I completely agree with that stat,” Ariyasinghe said. “It gives people a good indication of where real demand is. In less developed financial ecosystems, demand is growing, but the infrastructure isn’t necessarily in place. These forms of tokenized cash are fulfilling a real need.”
Rather than asking banks to rip out their existing systems or hold cryptocurrency directly, Project Pangea is designed to work as a behind-the-scenes translator. Banks will continue initiating transactions through Swift, the messaging network they’ve relied on since the 1970s, while Chainlink’s infrastructure converts those instructions into instant atomic swaps on a separate, neutral ledger called the Pangea L1 Network. The system is built to stay compatible with existing Swift and ISO 20022 standards, so banks can plug into blockchain-based settlement without overhauling their current payment rails.
Not positioning itself as a Ripple rival
Given Ripple’s years-long push into institutional cross-border payments, some may see Project Pangea as a direct competitor. Chainlink, however, frames its role differently.
“I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a rival,” Ariyasinghe said. “We’re very much a technology provider. It’s less about creating a unified network from scratch. It’s about applying the technology, finding where that value is, and growing the network organically.”
The broader aim, he explained, is unlocking capital that otherwise sits idle during slow settlement windows and modernizing how money moves across borders. “If I’m sending money to you and it’s lost in transit for quite some time, you don’t receive it, and that money isn’t able to be used,” Ariyasinghe said. “To reduce that time as much as possible, for customers to access that money absolutely as fast as possible, has to be a good thing.”
If successful, the project’s near-instant settlement model could help participating banks cut liquidity costs, reduce settlement risk, and give businesses quicker access to funds that would otherwise be tied up for days during cross-border transactions.
- CoinDesk’s coverage of Qivalis’ 37-bank stablecoin consortium — background on coalition partner
- Chainlink’s official site or blog (for a direct primary source on Project Pangea, if you have a specific link to their announcement)
Crypto News predictions, Best crypto news , Crypto news today , crypto news , Crypto news 24
Leave a Reply