Chainlink Enables Secure CBDC-Stablecoin Swap in Hong Kong-Australia Pilot

• Chainlink is playing a role in Phase 2 of Hong Kong’s e-HKD+ Pilot Programme, which is exploring a secure exchange between e‑HKD and an Australian stablecoin.
  
• Some of the institutions that are included are Visa,  Fidelity International, ChinaAMC, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
  

Chainlink, a blockchain project that helps different blockchains and real-world systems securely share data, has announced that it’s playing a key role in helping secure the exchange between two digital currencies: The Hong Kong Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), called e-HKD and an Australian dollar stablecoin, a type of digital token that is pegged to the value of the Australian dollar.

This exchange is happening as part of Phase 2 of Hong Kong’s e-HKD+ Pilot Program, an initiative led by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to explore how cross-border payments (payments between different countries and currencies) can be improved using blockchain and digital currency technologies.

The first phase of Hong Kong’s e‑HKD Pilot Programme, known as Project e‑HKD, launched in November 2022 and officially kicked off on May 18, 2023, when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched pilot tests involving 16 firms across categories like programmable payments, offline payments, tokenized deposits, and more

According to Visa’s report, during the initial phase of the pilot, participants will experiment with a simulated foreign exchange process and the creation of new digital currencies, such as e-HKD and tokenized deposits.” In the final paper, participants will demonstrate the end-to-end process of the simulated transaction that allows an Australian investor to purchase a tokenized asset in Hong Kong”, Visa added. The idea? To see how tools like Chainlink’s interoperability solutions can help people and businesses move money across borders more easily, making the process faster, more secure, and less expensive.

What Role is Chainlink Taking

In its post, Chainlink acknowledged several key financial players contributing to the project’s success. Among them is Visa, which participated in Phase 1 of the HKMA’s e-HKD Pilot Programme alongside HSBC and Hang Seng Bank, testing property payments. ANZ Bank also stands out, having become the first commercial bank to issue an AUD-referenced stablecoin (A$DC) on a public blockchain. China AMC, a leader in tokenization, has been active in several initiatives, including Hong Kong’s Project Ensemble, which launched in 2024. Fidelity International is another participant.

That said, having strong interoperability solutions is crucial. It makes it possible to move data and value safely between different blockchains, helps prevent double spending, and ensures transactions happen smoothly across networks.

Thus, ANZ and FIL will test Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to connect ANZ’s DASChain and Ethereum in a test environment. The goal is to “explore the challenges and infrastructure needed for financial institutions to efficiently access both permissioned and public blockchains, reducing market fragmentation and supporting tokenized asset adoption.”

Identity verification in this process is handled through Chainlink Compliance Services or a similar module operated by ANZ. This system reads an investor’s identity information from ANZ’s off-chain identity registry and then provides an on-chain verification in the form of a Cross-Chain Identity (CCID). This ensures that identity data remains secure while allowing it to be used seamlessly across different blockchain networks involved in the pilot.

This pilot aims to see how tokenization can develop the next generation of cutting-edge payment infrastructure. The potential of this work is enormous. The report projects that:

Tokenized market capitalization, excluding cryptocurrencies, is projected to reach approximately $2 trillion by 2030, driven by the adoption of tokenized mutual funds, bonds, securities, and exchange-traded notes.

Chainlink serves as a foundational layer for the tokenized asset ecosystem by providing critical services such as Proof of Reserve (PoR), which is an on-chain verification process that ensures token reserves, like stablecoins and wrapped assets, are fully backed. Additionally, Chainlink offers real-time data feeds and integration, delivering up-to-date pricing information, AML/KYC verification, and liquidity data to keep tokens operational and reliable across multiple blockchain networks.

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