Rapid Addition, a provider of financial information exchange (FIX) connectivity solutions, and Chainlink, a decentralised blockchain oracle network, have announced the joint development of a FIX-native blockchain adapter. Aimed at facilitating institutional digital asset trading, the firms claim that the solution acts on an “untapped market opportunity”.
The new collaboration will “allow banks and other financial institutions to deliver messages and interact with a broad spectrum of tokenised assets”, reveals a press release. It lists carbon credits, renewable energy products, real estate, and collectibles as examples of these assets.
Powered by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), the solution gives clients “seamless and secure integration into blockchain-based platforms without the need to duplicate systems and controls”, says Rapid Addition CEO Mike Powell. Users get “access to liquidity and post-trade services regardless of the underlying technology”, thus allowing institutions to leverage their existing trading infrastructure for digital assets.
Old with new
The key lies in how well established the FIX protocol is. Investopedia describes it as “the de-facto messaging standard for pre-trade, trade, and post-trade communication” that is “compatible with almost every commonly used network technology”. Rapid Addition points out that FIX has been in use for more than 30 years.
When combined with Chainlink CCIP’s blockchain abstraction application programming interfaces (APIs), FIX can “fast-track interoperability with classic systems, as well as offer a compliant schema for the communication of financial market transactions over blockchain networks”. The solution makes it possible to “seamlessly and securely connect FIX’s widely-used industry protocols to smart contracts, unlocking new possibilities for digital asset trading”.
“The key to institutional adoption of these new asset types lies in the effective interoperability between traditional systems and blockchain technology,” says Vince Turcotte, business development lead, Asia Pacific for Chainlink Labs. “Combining Chainlink CCIP with Rapid Addition’s FIX platform lowers the technical barriers of entry to new trading venues, buy-side participants, and brokers for digital assets.”