Chainlink and Japan’s SBI Group in a Major RWA Partnership

• The partnership will focus on several key use cases, including tokenized real-world assets, tokenized funds, regulated stablecoins, and payment-versus-payment systems
• A survey from SBI Digital Asset Holdings found that most banks and financial companies (roughly 76%) plan to buy tokenized assets because of faster settlement and lower costs
• After the announcement, Chainlink’s native token LINK saw a small boost of 1% and its Open Interest derivatives reached $875.7 million

SBI Group, one of Japan’s largest financial companies with over $200 billion in managed assets, has teamed up with Chainlink, the leading provider of oracle services. This partnership is designed to hasten the institutional adoption of digital assets throughout Japan and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Details of the new SBI and Chainlink partnership

The focus will be on several key use cases, including: 

• Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), such as real estate and bonds, using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) for cross-blockchain interactions
• Tokenized funds, leveraging Chainlink SmartData to publish real-time net asset value (NAV) information on-chain
• Regulated stablecoins, using Chainlink Proof of Reserve to provide transparent auditing of on-chain collateral
• Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) systems, which enable compliant cross-border and foreign exchange transactions

Interestingly, a survey from SBI Digital Asset Holdings (SBI subsidiary) found that most banks and financial companies (roughly 76%) plan to buy tokenized assets because of faster settlement and lower costs. However, it’s also been noted that the biggest problem right now is a lack of robust infrastructure, which is why the partnership with Chainlink was formed.

This isn’t the first time the two have been working together. Chainlink, UBS Asset Management, and SBI Digital Markets (SBI’s subsidiary in Singapore) had previously joined forces to automatically manage investment funds and their paperwork using smart contracts. The work was conducted under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian.

Japan’s digital asset push and LINK’s price

From a bird’s eye view, the move is consistent with recent Japan developments. The country is preparing to approve a yen-backed stablecoin, which suggests momentum toward formalizing digital asset rails domestically.

As for SBI, Chainlink is just the latest addition to its growing number of partners. The company is making a broad push into tokenized finance with previously established partnerships with Circle (USDC), Ripple (for RLUSD), and Web3 infra firm Startale.

Why did the LINK price drop after such a big announcement?

Chainlink’s native token LINK saw a small boost of 1% after the announcement (reaching about $26.3), and Open Interest in LINK derivatives reached $875.7 million, according to Coinanalyze. However, several hours later, the price started to slowly drop with the current price hovering around $24.50. 

If we look at the TradingView’s 4-hour chart, it shows a series of higher lows leading up to a recent peak around $27 a few days ago, followed by a pullback. 

The upper resistance appears to be forming a horizontal line near $24.50 to $27, while the lower trendline slopes upward. This does resemble an ascending triangle which is a bullish continuation pattern. Should the price break out above the resistance level, it could signal further upward momentum. 

However, the pattern is not fully confirmed yet due to the recent pullback, and it still needs to clearly break through the top price level it’s struggling with, along with a boost in trading activity.

Still, with growing institutional engagement and RWA tokenization, in addition to the announced SBI partnership, some predict LINK might see a notable boost before the end of this year.