Chainlink partners with Fireblocks to help banks issue stablecoins

Fireblocks and Chainlink Labs have announced a strategic collaboration to provide banks with a technology solution for issuing and managing regulated stablecoins.

Crypto custody and services firm Fireblocks has teamed up with Chainlink Labs to offer a new solution for banks to issue and manage stablecoins, according to a Sept. 17 press release. The “strategic collaboration” is said to support end-to-end tokenization capabilities for stablecoin issuers, including minting, custody, and distribution, among other services.

Commenting on the collaboration, Chainlink Labs’ global head of banking and capital markets Angie Walker said the both parties expect that the collaboration “will not only provide stablecoin users with real-time visibility into asset reserves but also elevate the utility of the stablecoin as a secure payment vehicle and institutional trading instrument in digital asset markets.”

The joint effort is understood to provide issuing agents a “single, comprehensive, real-time view of stablecoins, reserves, market value and total supply, including across different blockchains.” While it remains uncertain which banks will begin issuing stablecoins, both firms previously supported Wenia, a division of Colombia’s largest bank Bancolombia, in launching its COPW stablecoin.

The collaboration comes as a recent survey revealed that stablecoins settled $3.7 trillion in 2023 and are on pace to reach $5.28 trillion in 2024, with growing usage beyond exchange settlement. The data compiled by Castle Island Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital revealed that stablecoins have evolved from “mere trading collateral to a general-purpose digital dollar instrument.”