Chainlink joined European and South Korean banks to explore stablecoin settlements in new cross-border project

Chainlink has joined forces with banking organizations in Europe and South Korea to launch a new working group focused on investigating the use of stablecoins in foreign exchange (FX) settlement. This initiative underscores an increasing trend of testing blockchain-based infrastructures aimed at modernizing traditional financial systems.

Project Pangea brings together banks and blockchain

Announced on Tuesday, Project Pangea unites Chainlink and South Korea-based digital asset infrastructure firm FairSquareLab with the Unified Korea Alliance (UniKA)—a consortium of more than a dozen South Korean commercial banks—and the Qivalis euro stablecoin consortium, which is backed by 37 European banks. The collaboration signals an expanding cross-border approach to blockchain adoption in institutional finance.

Under the project’s framework, the direct and atomic swap of euro- and won-denominated stablecoins will be explored. The partners plan to leverage Chainlink’s data infrastructure alongside FairSquareLab’s on-chain FX settlement technology to facilitate these seamless transactions.

Mini glossary: An atomic swap enables two digital assets to be exchanged simultaneously within a single transaction flow. The process settles only if both parties meet their conditions; otherwise, the transaction is void.

Evaluation phase, not a live payment network

At this stage, the initiative is established as a working group rather than an active payment network, with no official timeline for moving toward production. Still, Project Pangea stands out as the latest example of banks exploring how tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoin models could enhance cross-border payments and settlements.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, global FX markets see a daily trading volume of approximately $9.6 trillion. This scale highlights why financial institutions are prioritizing institutional-level settlement infrastructures for efficiency and security.

Similar moves and growth projections

Comparable initiatives are emerging in other regions as well. The fintech startup OpenFX recently secured $94 million in funding to expand its stablecoin-based payment network, initially targeting Southeast Asia and Latin America as key markets.

Global financial institutions are paying closer attention to stablecoin integration in response to clearer regulatory frameworks in the United States and Europe. Notably, the focus is on wholesale infrastructure and institutional payments rather than retail or consumer transactions, reflecting an evolution in stablecoin use cases.

Citigroup forecasts rapid expansion

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently described a pivotal moment for stablecoins, noting that financial entities are actively exploring how to integrate this technology into their operations.

Citigroup projects that the global stablecoin market could rise from its current level of around $315 billion to $1.9 trillion by 2030. The bank suggests that this projected growth could be driven by continued adoption in crypto markets, a gradual shift from physical US dollar banknotes to digital dollars, and the increasing use of stablecoins as short-term liquidity instruments—for both US dollar and local currency holdings. In Citigroup’s most optimistic scenario, the market could reach $4 trillion by 2030.

The expansion of initiatives like Project Pangea illustrates how collaboration between blockchain firms and major banking groups might transform the landscape of global payments and settlement. Banks’ focus on regulated, tokenized solutions marks a significant shift in how institutions address cross-border transaction challenges.

As global transaction volumes continue to rise, industry stakeholders are closely monitoring pilot projects and working groups that could set the stage for next-generation financial settlement infrastructure. The push toward blockchain-powered stablecoin settlement is expected to reshape the operational models of banks worldwide in the years ahead.

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