Chainlink surges 30% as DTCC explores blockchain for mutual fund data delivery

Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has released the findings of its Smart NAV pilot, which explored extending its Mutual Fund Profile Service to leverage distributed ledger technology for data dissemination and consumption. The news led to Chainlink (LINK) surging 30% over the past 48 hours, trading at $16.71 from a low of $12.8 on May 15, as the DTCC concluded that,

“an opportunity for on-chain price and rate data that can serve as a key enabler to the exploration of new initiatives.”

The Smart NAV pilot aimed to utilize DTCC’s digital asset capabilities and Chainlink’s technology for cross-chain interoperability and blockchain abstraction. This initiative was part of DTCC’s broader efforts to support the financial industry’s exploration of digital assets in financial services.

DTCC is a post-trade financial services company providing clearing, settlement, and information services for various securities, including equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments, and over-the-counter derivatives

The pilot targeted the increased industry interest in mutual fund tokenization and the need for on-chain price and rate data. By adopting a chain-agnostic approach, DTCC sought to enable the distribution of Net Asset Value (NAV) data across multiple blockchains, facilitating new use cases.

The Smart NAV pilot involved extending DTCC’s Mutual Fund Profile Service I (MFPS I), the industry standard for transmitting NAV data. Ten market participants and Chainlink collaborated, focusing on the feasibility and value of delivering a DLT-based solution for price and rate dissemination. This initiative aimed to embed foundational data into various on-chain use cases, such as tokenized funds and bulk consumer smart contracts, supporting future industry exploration.

The pilot demonstrated that structured data delivery on-chain and established roles and processes can enhance numerous downstream use cases. These include brokerage portfolio applications and other business workflows, benefiting from real-time, automated data dissemination and historical data access.

Smart NAV’s core capability revolves around making trusted, verifiable data available on any blockchain network to support its use in business processes. DTCC acted as the data provider and governor of the on-chain solution, while Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) enabled interoperability. The pilot’s success suggests the potential for broader applications beyond the dissemination of price and rate data across more blockchains.