The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) reported the successful completion of a pilot project, facilitated by Chainlink and ten major financial services companies in the U.S., to explore ways to modify the industry standard for transferring data through blockchain systems.
The DTCC, the world’s largest post-trade, clearing, and settlement company, revealed the completion of the Smart NAV pilot project, which showed that blockchain use can significantly improve automation and access to data.
The primary goal of the Smart NAV initiative is to explore ways to modify the industry standard for transferring mutual fund data through DLT systems. As part of the pilot tests, net asset value (NAV) data was digitized and then financial institutions could access it using the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) launched by Chainlink in 2023. Each pilot participant was given a standardized role within the network, which simplified the transfer of structured data through blockchain.
The DTCC analysts noted that the pilot demonstrated the effectiveness of DLT systems within:
- standardization and distribution of data, making it much easier to manage tokenized mutual funds;
- automation of data management systems;
- minimizing the impact on existing market practices for traditional financial institutions;
- simplifying access to historical data for customers by eliminating the need for manual record keeping;
- developing new API solutions for financial data transfer.
Ten U.S. financial giants participated in the project, namely:
- American Century Investments;
- BNY Mellon;
- Edward Jones;
- Franklin Templeton;
- Invesco;
- JPMorgan;
- MFS Investment Management;
- Mid Atlantic Trust;
- State Street;
- U.S. Bank.
The DTCC is actively exploring options for using blockchain in the TradFi ecosystem. The company took part in the testing of the Canton DLT system, helped SWIFT to explore the interoperability of different blockchains, and led the Hyperledger Foundation working group in the development of a blockchain solution for asset tokenization.
