Powered end-to-end by Chainlink, the experiment connects the central banks of Brazil and Hong Kong and gives businesses the ability to make conditional installment payments for imports using digital currencies or tokenized reserves.
November 3, 2025 – Banco Inter and Chainlink, in partnership with the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), alongside global institutions Standard Chartered, Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), and 7COMm, have successfully completed the first blockchain-based international trade finance experiment for the primary sector, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to sell commodities abroad.
Under Phase 2 of Brazil’s Drex central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative, the proposed new trade finance platform enabled the test of a programmable Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) transaction and cross-border Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) transaction that unlocks conditional and installment-based payments. The platform simulates the settlement exports across Brazil’s Drex network and Hong Kong’s Ensemble network, with Chainlink providing the secure infrastructure to connect the two environments and orchestrate settlement across jurisdictions in a compliant manner, and GSBN recording the change in title registry of the eBL along the payment process.
This marks the first time a blockchain-based title registry and a cross-chain payment infrastructure were connected via a single, automated workflow, setting a new standard for global trade settlements.
A New Marketplace for Inclusive International Trade
Led by Banco Inter and powered by Chainlink, the project enabled the central banks of Brazil and Hong Kong to use blockchain to settle a cross-border trade automatically, securely, and in real time. By supporting tokenized payments and automating title transfers via smart contracts, the platform lowers costs, reduces risk, and opens international market opportunities to small and medium-sized businesses.
“Banco Inter relies on innovation to create solutions that have a positive impact on our clients’ financial lives and the broader economy,” said Bruno Grossi, Head of Digital Assets at Banco Inter. “By leveraging Chainlink to connect the BCB, the HKMA, and trade finance platforms, we’re building a more connected financial ecosystem that has the ability to underpin the future of global trade.”
Powered end-to-end by Chainlink, the DvP model automatically escrows and releases funds while transferring the eBL, removing the need for manual coordination between banks, platforms, and shipping parties. To mirror real-world trade conditions, the project also introduced a real-world asset token backed by commodities, providing counterparties instant liquidity and reducing both settlement risk and operational friction.
Secure, Cross-Chain DvP Settlement
The Chainlink platform is critical to the DvP solution, enabling real-time interoperability between the BCB and HKMA. Two core Chainlink technologies powered the programmable DvP/PvP solution:
- Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) connected the BCB’s Drex platform with the Hong Kong Ensemble Network led by the HKMA, as well as a DLT-based Trade Finance Platform (TFP) on Besu and GSBN. CRE routed payment instructions between Drex, Inter, and Ensemble—translating messages into the correct format when needed (e.g., ISO 20022 in this experiment)—and triggered the eBL transfers via the GSBN API.
- Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) enabled secure communication between the Drex platform and TFP, allowing events such as contract execution or credit release to be automatically synchronized between different networks.
“Chainlink successfully connecting the Central Bank of Brazil and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to enable secure DvP/PvP across borders is a major step forward for global trade,” said Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao, President of Banking and Capital Markets at Chainlink Labs. “Programmable cross-border payments, conditional on supply chain updates, significantly streamline operations and unlock massive automation efficiencies. We look forward to expanding our work and building out new capabilities to accelerate the evolution of international commerce into this new smart contract-enabled paradigm with Inter, Standard Chartered, and GSBN as part of this multi-jurisdictional project.”
Real-World Impact
The solution could bring meaningful benefits across the trade finance ecosystem. For banks, automated settlement reduces operational overhead and improves risk management. For export, import, and shipping companies, payments are released as goods approach delivery, reducing delays, and enhancing supply chain agility. Small and medium-sized businesses can now engage directly with overseas buyers, benefit from faster settlement, and secure new lines of credit through the tokenization of commodities and the automation of title transfers.
What’s Next
Following the success of this project, BCB, HKMA, Banco Inter, Chainlink, GSBN, and 7COMm are expanding the solution to support additional use cases, including open account trade. The project also aims to integrate directly with financial institutions via APIs and extend interoperability with other eBL providers to support broader adoption.
By combining innovation, social impact, and the Chainlink global connectivity standard, this project reinforces the role of blockchain in building the future of trade.
About Banco Inter
Inter&Co (NASDAQ: INTR) (“Inter”), the company that controls Banco Inter in Brazil and the subsidiary Inter&Co Payments, is the pioneering financial super app serving over 40 million customers across the Americas. Inter’s ecosystem offers a broad array of services, including banking, investments, mortgages, credit, insurance, and cross-border payments. The financial super app also boasts a dynamic marketplace, linking consumers with shopping discounts, cashback rewards, and exclusive access to marquee events across the globe. Focused on innovation and captivating member experiences, Inter delivers comprehensive financial and lifestyle solutions to meet the evolving needs of modern consumers.
About Chainlink
Chainlink is the industry-standard oracle platform bringing the capital markets onchain and powering the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi). The Chainlink stack provides the essential data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy standards needed to power advanced blockchain use cases for institutional tokenized assets, lending, payments, stablecoins, and more. Since inventing decentralized oracle networks, Chainlink has enabled tens of trillions in transaction value and now secures the vast majority of DeFi. Many of the world’s largest financial services institutions have also adopted Chainlink’s standards and infrastructure, including Swift, Euroclear, Mastercard, Fidelity International, UBS, ANZ, and top protocols such as Aave, GMX, Lido, and many others. Chainlink leverages a novel fee model where offchain and onchain revenue from enterprise adoption is converted to LINK tokens and stored in a strategic Chainlink Reserve.
About GSBN
The Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) is a neutral, not-for-profit consortium whose mission is to enable paperless, accessible and sustainable growth in global trade with its data infrastructure and ecosystem of partners. GSBN facilitates trusted collaboration between participants across the shipping industry to enable greater efficiencies, and paperless trade as well as supporting the shipping industry’s decarbonisation transition. GSBN’s ecosystem includes shipping lines, terminals, banks, application developers and other consortia. The entire network accounts for more than half of the containers handled in the world.
About Standard Chartered
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets and serving clients in a further 64. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.The history of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong dates back to 1859. It is currently one of the Hong Kong SAR’s three note-issuing banks. Standard Chartered incorporated its Hong Kong business on 1 July 2004, and now operates as a licensed bank in Hong Kong under the name of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered PLC.
