Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), one of Australia’s top four banks, has partnered with Singapore’s Project Guardian to explore the benefits of tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) in financial markets, according to a report by Brayden Lindera for CoinDesk. This initiative is part of ANZ’s broader effort to experiment with blockchain technology, as the bank seeks to enhance the movement of tokenized assets between different blockchain networks.
In a press release on September 30, ANZ announced its collaboration with Chainlink Labs, a blockchain oracle platform, and ADDX, a Singapore-based investment firm, to test how tokenized assets like commercial papers can interact across blockchains. The project will involve using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to enable smoother transactions between various blockchain networks.
Project Guardian, initiated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), seeks to explore and improve financial market infrastructure through the use of asset tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. This initiative brings together policymakers and the financial sector to enhance market liquidity and efficiency. The project collaborates with several international regulators, including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, Japan’s Financial Services Agency, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, and Banque de France. It also involves industry players such as DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and other financial institutions that are running pilot projects to examine various elements of tokenization and DeFi applications.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ’s banking services lead, had this to say:
“Tokenised asset markets are highly fragmented, with tokenised assets and related services developed across different blockchains that are not natively interoperable. This can limit the adoption of tokenised assets, while making the integration process for financial institutions complex. We are pleased to join Project Guardian and look forward to demonstrating how our emerging Digital Assets capabilities, such as A$DC, can be used to support our customers to move goods and capital across the region.“
ANZ will also benefit from Project Guardian’s on-the-ground support as it maintains a significant presence in Singapore.
Featured Image via Pixabay
