Bottomline Taps Chainlink to Bring 600 Banks On-Chain

Bottomline, a top-three provider of Swift services, has partnered with Chainlink to give more than 600 bank customers access to blockchain-based cross-border settlement. The deal is one of the largest efforts yet to link the Swift messaging network, which banks have relied on for decades, with public and private blockchains, according to a report from Bitcoin.com.

According to Bitcoin.com, Bottomline processes more than $16 trillion in payments annually and serves over 600 banks, 1,200 financial institutions and 10,000 businesses worldwide. Under the new setup, banks can keep sending payment instructions through ISO 20022, the global messaging standard, while Chainlink’s technology connects those instructions to blockchain settlement in the background. The company’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, or CCIP, moves tokenized value between separate blockchain networks, and its Chainlink Runtime Environment coordinates the payment workflow itself, Bitcoin.com reported.

Bitcoin.com noted that cross-border payments can still take days to settle and often cost 5% or more of a transfer’s value, partly because the money passes through several intermediary banks along the way. The partnership aims to close that gap without asking banks to rebuild their core systems.

It also fits into a broader push by Chainlink, whose Project Pangea already links more than 50 banks across Europe and South Korea that together manage over $10 trillion in assets. CCIP has been active since July 2023 and now connects more than 60 blockchain networks. JPMorgan Chase, ANZ Bank, UBS Asset Management and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have already used it for cross-chain and cross-border transactions.

Bitcoin.com pointed out that the deal gives banks the option to move payments onchain. It doesn’t guarantee they will.

PYMNTS has followed Bottomline’s recent expansion in payments technology. In July, the company partnered with American Express to link its Paymode supplier network to Amex’s Buyer Initiated Payments program. In June, Bottomline launched its CFO Suite, an AI-powered platform that combines treasury forecasting, accounts payable and accounts receivable in one place.