Chainlink Joins Bank Project for Stablecoin FX Settlement

Project Pangea Targets Atomic FX Settlement

Project Pangea is designed to evaluate direct atomic swaps of euro- and South Korean won-denominated stablecoins using Chainlink’s data infrastructure and FairSquareLab’s onchain foreign-exchange settlement technology. The project’s central mechanism is atomic payment-versus-payment settlement, where both sides of a currency trade settle together or not at all.

That structure is intended to reduce the risk that one party delivers funds while the other side fails to complete settlement. The project’s expected benefits include lower liquidity costs, reduced settlement risk and faster access to funds that would otherwise remain locked inside cross-border transactions.

Niki Ariyasinghe, Chainlink’s vice president of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, said in a video interview that Project Pangea aims to “redefine the global FX markets.” Ariyasinghe also said the initiative should not be seen as a limited proof-of-concept exercise.

“This is not just a POC,” Ariyasinghe said. He said participants are joining with “their eyes wide open” and that the appetite is “very much about building real infrastructure.”

Ariyasinghe said the target is “live transactions within a legal, regulatory compliance framework within the next 12 months.” At the same time, Project Pangea is described as a working group rather than a live payment network, and no production implementation timeline has been announced.

Banks Would Keep Existing Messaging Infrastructure

Project Pangea is designed to sit between legacy banking workflows and blockchain settlement rails. Banks would trigger transactions through Swift, described as the global messaging network banks have used since the 1970s, while Chainlink infrastructure would translate those instructions into instant atomic swaps on the Pangea L1 Network.

The project is also designed to work with Swift and ISO 20022 banking standards. That structure would allow banks to connect to blockchain-based settlement rails without replacing existing payment infrastructure.

The project’s middleware design means participating banks would not need to directly replace familiar front-end workflows. Instead, the settlement backend would be moved closer to real-time operation while keeping the bank-facing process compatible with current systems.

Ariyasinghe linked the project’s focus to trapped capital during slow settlement. “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,” he said. Ariyasinghe added that reducing that time so customers can access funds as fast as possible “has to be a good thing.”

Ariyasinghe also addressed comparisons with Ripple, which has long been associated with institutional cross-border settlement. “I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a rival,” he said. Ariyasinghe said Chainlink is “very much a technology provider,” describing the approach as applying technology, finding value and allowing the network to grow organically.

Stablecoin Settlement Push Extends Beyond One Corridor

Project Pangea sits within a broader push by financial institutions to test tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins and blockchain settlement infrastructure for cross-border payments, corporate payments and FX workflows.

The stablecoin market backdrop is also changing. Citigroup’s stated drivers for growth include continued adoption inside crypto markets, a gradual shift from physical U.S. dollar banknotes to digital dollars, and rising use of stablecoins as short-term liquidity instruments in both U.S. dollars and local currencies.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently described stablecoins as having a “ChatGPT moment,” referring to the speed at which financial institutions are evaluating the technology for operational use.

OpenFX recently raised capital to expand a stablecoin-based payments network initially focused on Southeast Asia and Latin America. That development was cited as another sign that stablecoin payment infrastructure is moving beyond crypto-native venues and into cross-border transaction use cases.