{"id":559960,"date":"2026-02-23T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/Blockchain.News\/news\/chainlink-labs-uk-tokenized-assets-cross-border-payments"},"modified":"2026-02-23T17:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:59:11","slug":"chainlink-link-labs-eyes-uk-tokenized-assets-as-cross-border-payments-hit-1t-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/chainlink-link-labs-eyes-uk-tokenized-assets-as-cross-border-payments-hit-1t-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Chainlink (LINK) Labs Eyes UK Tokenized Assets as Cross-Border Payments Hit $1T Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Caroline Bishop<\/a> Feb 23, 2026 17:59<\/span> <\/p>\n

Chainlink (LINK) Labs targets UK’s capital markets for blockchain-based cross-border payments, citing cost savings of up to 85% versus traditional SWIFT transfers.<\/p>\n

\"Chainlink <\/a> <\/figure>\n

Chainlink (LINK) Labs is positioning itself for a major push into the UK’s tokenized financial assets market, with the company’s Global Head of Partnerships Jorge Lesmes describing Britain as entering a “practical phase” in blockchain-based payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The timing matters. Cross-border payments represent roughly $1 trillion in annual transaction volume globally, and traditional systems remain frustratingly inefficient. SWIFT transfers typically cost around 6.5% in fees and can take days to settle through chains of correspondent banks. Blockchain alternatives? They’re running between 0.5% and 1.5%\u2014an 85% cost reduction that’s catching institutional attention.<\/p>\n

Why the UK Makes Sense<\/h2>\n

Lesmes pointed to three factors making Britain attractive: deep capital markets, a heavyweight asset management industry, and existing financial infrastructure that’s already globally connected. The country has historically served as a bridge between American and European finance, which positions it well for cross-border innovation.<\/p>\n

The broader market is moving quickly. Deutsche Bank announced a partnership with Ripple on February 20 to enhance its cross-border settlement capabilities\u2014a signal that traditional finance isn’t waiting around. XRP spot ETFs have also seen significant inflows this week, suggesting retail and institutional appetite for payment-focused blockchain assets remains strong.<\/p>\n

The Technical Case<\/h2>\n

Blockchain’s advantage in payments comes down to settlement mechanics. Traditional correspondent banking involves multiple intermediaries, each adding time and cost. A distributed ledger settles transactions directly between parties, operating around the clock rather than during banking hours.<\/p>\n

Smart contracts add another layer\u2014automating compliance checks and currency conversions that currently require manual processing. Industry projections suggest stablecoins could capture 20% of global cross-border payments by 2030, though regulatory frameworks remain inconsistent across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

What’s Still Missing<\/h2>\n

Challenges persist. Regulatory harmonization between countries remains patchy, and questions about system robustness during high-volume periods haven’t been fully answered. Interoperability between different blockchain networks is another friction point that companies like Chainlink are specifically trying to solve through their oracle infrastructure.<\/p>\n

For now, the UK push represents Chainlink Labs’ bet that institutional adoption will accelerate through traditional finance hubs rather than crypto-native channels. Whether Britain’s regulators move fast enough to capture that opportunity remains the open question heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

Image source: Shutterstock<\/i><\/span> Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caroline Bishop Feb 23, 2026 17:59 Chainlink (LINK) Labs targets UK’s capital markets for blockchain-based cross-border payments, citing cost savings of up to 85% versus traditional SWIFT transfers. Chainlink (LINK) Labs is positioning itself for a major push into the UK’s tokenized financial assets market, with the company’s Global Head of Partnerships Jorge Lesmes describing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":559961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[117,346,10686,25,173,18784],"class_list":{"0":"post-559960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blockchain","8":"tag-blockchain","9":"tag-chainlink","10":"tag-cross-border-payments","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tokenization","13":"tag-uk-finance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-bitco.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}