Tokenized assets are rapidly scaling across public and private blockchains, but fragmented liquidity, disconnected financing venues, and costly bespoke integrations have severely limited institutional adoption and left many assets stranded on their native platforms rather than put to work across markets.

The opportunity cost of idle assets is already evident in traditional markets; Citi estimates that approximately a quarter of institutional collateral sits idle due to settlement cutoffs and operational friction, resulting in roughly $346 million in forgone revenue annually for the average Tier 1 firm. To unlock institutional capital at scale, tokenized assets must be usable across markets without platform lock-in or bespoke integrations, giving institutions access to deeper liquidity, better financing terms, and more yield opportunities.

We’re introducing Chainlink Fulcrum, a new end-to-end solution for institutional financing and collateral management across public and private blockchains.

Built for the needs of the world’s largest financial institutions, Chainlink Fulcrum is the first cross-chain repurchase agreement (repo) flow that separates the venue where a financing agreement is managed from the networks where cash and collateral settle. Through a single gateway, counterparties can choose eligible assets, set financing terms (e.g., prohibit collateral rehypothecation), and coordinate settlement across any supported chain, all without being locked into any one venue. It comes with 24/7 operational support, enabling institutions to identify changing exposures and respond in accordance with the agreement’s terms automatically, even when traditional markets are closed. This significantly enhances capital efficiency while reducing operational costs.

Chainlink Fulcrum is a global financing layer for the entire financial ecosystem. Banks and dealers can source and deploy liquidity around the clock. Prime brokers can extend financing to hedge funds against a broader range of tokenized collateral, enabling hedge funds to raise liquidity without selling their positions. Agent lenders and custodians can put their clients’ tokenized securities to work in secured lending programs. Funds and insurers can deploy tokenized cash into secured, yield-bearing transactions, using collateral and terms that align with their mandates. Asset managers and issuers of tokenized funds and stablecoins can make their products more useful by making them eligible as collateral across venues, while corporate treasuries can earn yield on idle cash.

Fulcrum is in the process of being integrated with leading TradFi environments that are launching soon, as well as many existing venues, so participants can compare financing terms across them and route transactions to the venue of their choice, where the agreement is executed and governed. Chainlink Fulcrum does not custody assets, act as a counterparty, or operate a trading venue; financing agreements are executed among participants and governed on the venues integrated with it.

Source: Chainlink