Swiss banking giant UBS has executed the world's first production-ready, end-to-end tokenized fund workflow, completing a live subscription and redemption transaction using Chainlink's Digital Transfer Agent technical standard - a breakthrough that demonstrates how blockchain infrastructure can integrate with the $128 trillion global asset management industry.
The November 4 announcement marks a significant milestone in the tokenization of traditional finance, showing that established financial institutions can leverage blockchain technology for complex fund operations without overhauling existing systems. The transaction involved UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token (uMINT), a tokenized money market fund built on the Ethereum blockchain, with DigiFT serving as the on-chain distributor.
"This transaction represents a key milestone in how smart contract-based technologies and technical standards enhance fund operations and the investor experience," said Mike Dargan, UBS's group chief operating and technology officer, in a statement. "As the industry continues to embrace tokenized finance, this achievement illustrates how these innovations drive greater operational efficiencies and new possibilities for product composability."
Chainlink's DTA Standard: Bridging Traditional Finance and Blockchain
The successful transaction relied on Chainlink's Digital Transfer Agent (DTA) technical standard, unveiled in September 2025 specifically to enable transfer agents and fund administrators to expand their operations on-chain while remaining aligned with existing regulatory frameworks. The DTA standard leverages multiple Chainlink platform components to automate traditionally manual processes in fund management.
According to Chainlink, the DTA standard enables several critical capabilities: real-time subscription and redemption processing of tokenized funds across multiple blockchains, seamless integration of pre-built fiat and digital asset settlement workflows, programmable compliance enforcement through Chainlink's Automated Compliance Engine (ACE), and an on-chain golden record of fund lifecycle activities synchronized with each transaction.
Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration's implications for institutional finance. "UBS has successfully completed the world's first in-production, end-to-end tokenized fund workflow," Nazarov said, noting that the achievement "sets a new benchmark for scalable, secure workflows for tokenized assets in institutional finance."
The architecture involves UBS's internal systems initiating the subscription or redemption process, which Chainlink's infrastructure then executes according to the DTA standard protocols. The system uses NAVLink Feeds to bring Net Asset Value pricing on-chain, ensuring subscriptions and redemptions use authoritative prices, while the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) enables multi-chain distribution capabilities.
Addressing a $128 Trillion Market's Pain Points
The significance of this breakthrough extends beyond a single transaction. Global assets under management reached a record $128 trillion in 2024, according to Boston Consulting Group, growing 12% from the previous year. McKinsey estimates that by mid-2025, global AUM had climbed to $147 trillion.
Despite this massive scale, traditional fund operations remain plagued by inefficiencies. Manual interventions, delayed settlements, and lack of real-time transparency lead to increased operational costs, reduced liquidity, and missed investment opportunities across what Swift describes as the "$63 trillion global mutual fund market."
The transaction is part of UBS's broader initiative through UBS Tokenize, the bank's in-house platform for blockchain-based financial products. By automating key functions like order-taking, execution, and settlement across digital and traditional systems, the technology aims to reduce operational complexity and processing time significantly.
Thomas Kaegi, Co-Head of UBS Asset Management APAC, previously noted growing investor appetite for tokenized financial assets across asset classes when announcing the uMINT fund launch in November 2024. "Through leveraging our global capabilities and collaborating with peers and regulators, we can now provide clients with an innovative solution," Kaegi said.
Building on Project Guardian and Swift Integration
The UBS-Chainlink achievement builds on extensive groundwork laid through Singapore's Project Guardian, an initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to explore and develop asset tokenization potential. Project Guardian has conducted multiple industry trials across asset and wealth management, fixed income, and foreign exchange since its 2022 launch.
The initiative has attracted participation from global financial heavyweights including JPMorgan, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Moody's, with regulatory involvement from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, Switzerland's FINMA, and Japan's Financial Services Agency. These collaborations aim to establish frameworks for designing open and interoperable digital asset networks.
Notably, the transaction follows a recent pilot where Chainlink connected existing bank systems to blockchains via Swift, the global financial messaging network. That September 2025 setup used Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol and Runtime Environment to process fund transactions using ISO 20022 messages - allowing banks to access blockchain infrastructure without replacing legacy systems.
The Swift pilot demonstrated how financial institutions can leverage blockchain technology to settle subscriptions and redemptions for tokenized investment fund vehicles while enabling straight-through-processing of the payment leg. This capability would potentially enable digital asset transactions to settle with fiat payment systems across more than 11,500 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories.
"Chainlink is enabling institutions to reuse Swift's infrastructure to facilitate payments for digital asset transactions," Nazarov said at the Swift-organized Sibos conference in October 2024. "I am very excited by the upcoming adoption of these off-chain payment capabilities and how they will increase the flow of capital and expand the possible user base of digital assets."
DigiFT's Role in On-Chain Distribution
DigiFT, a regulated exchange for tokenized assets based in Singapore, played a crucial role as the on-chain distributor in the redemption transaction. The platform demonstrated how on-chain fund operations can be executed and reconciled while maintaining integration with institutional custody systems.
DigiFT has been actively involved in Singapore's tokenization ecosystem, serving as an authorized distribution partner for various tokenized financial products. The platform only provides access to accredited investors, despite operating on a public blockchain, maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements while leveraging blockchain's operational benefits.
The use of Chainlink's DTA standard enabled DigiFT to process the redemption with real-time visibility and automated reconciliation - capabilities that typically require extensive manual intervention in traditional fund operations. This automation reduces settlement risk and enhances transparency for all parties involved in the transaction.
Market Implications and Industry Transformation
The successful execution of this first production-ready tokenized fund redemption carries significant implications for the broader financial industry. Tokenized funds remain a nascent market, with approximately $2.35 billion in investments compared to the $63 trillion in traditional fund products. However, major financial institutions are increasingly positioning themselves in this space.
BlackRock and Franklin Templeton currently operate two of the three largest tokenized funds, signaling Wall Street's growing interest in blockchain-based financial products. Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund has become one of the live use cases under Project Guardian, demonstrating commercial viability and regulatory alignment.
The MAS has announced new frameworks to accelerate tokenization's growth, focusing on four critical pillars: infrastructure, liquidity, standardized frameworks, and common settlement assets. The central bank pledged to develop a wholesale digital Singaporean dollar to address settlement challenges in tokenized markets.
DBS Bank reported over $1 billion in tokenized structured note trades in the first half of 2025, with volumes climbing nearly 60% between the first and second quarters. This rapid growth reflects increasing institutional comfort with blockchain-based financial instruments.
Final thoughts
As tokenization moves from pilot projects to production systems, the UBS-Chainlink transaction provides a template for how established financial institutions can integrate blockchain technology while maintaining regulatory compliance and operational reliability. The DTA standard's modular approach allows institutions to adopt tokenization incrementally, reducing the risks associated with wholesale system replacement.
Chainlink describes the DTA launch as timely, noting that the global asset management industry oversees trillions of dollars across mutual funds, ETFs, and private markets - all dependent on precise operational activities carried out by transfer agents and fund administrators. By lowering technological barriers for these service providers, the DTA standard aims to mainstream tokenized asset servicing at scale.
The successful transaction demonstrates that blockchain technology can enhance, rather than replace, existing financial infrastructure. By enabling real-time processing, automated compliance, and cross-chain interoperability while maintaining integration with traditional systems, tokenization offers a path to modernizing the fund industry without disrupting its fundamental operations.
For UBS, one of the world's largest private banks with operations spanning global markets, this achievement reinforces its position at the forefront of financial innovation. The bank's willingness to move beyond pilots to production systems signals growing confidence in blockchain technology's readiness for institutional adoption.
As more financial institutions observe UBS's success with tokenized fund workflows, the $128 trillion asset management industry may be approaching an inflection point where blockchain-based operations transition from experimental to standard practice - potentially reshaping how investment funds are created, distributed, and managed in the decades ahead.