Chainlink has joined Project Pangea, a cross-border settlement initiative bringing together 47 banks in Europe and South Korea with more than $10 trillion in combined assets under management. The stated goal is to reduce EUR-KRW foreign exchange settlement from the usual two days to near real-time.
European and Korean banks focus on a $150 billion trade corridor
According to the project details, Pangea links 37 European banks through Qivalis and more than 10 South Korean banks through UniKA. The group is targeting the Europe-South Korea trade corridor, which handles over $150 billion in annual trade volume. The structure combines regulated euro and Korean won stablecoins with banking standards and blockchain infrastructure to speed up settlement finality.
Swift messages are converted into on-chain settlement instructions
The initiative runs on a dedicated blockchain called the Pangea Layer 1 Network. That network supports regulated euro-pegged and Korean won-pegged stablecoins used for settlement. Chainlink is participating alongside Qivalis and UniKA as the middleware layer that converts traditional bank payment instructions into blockchain-based settlement transactions.
Project Pangea also integrates with Swift and follows ISO 20022 messaging standards. In practice, participating banks can keep their existing payment workflows. European banks will initiate transactions through Swift, and Chainlink technology will translate those instructions into atomic on-chain settlements executed on the Pangea network.
Atomic PvP settlement is built to eliminate one-sided execution
At the center of the design is atomic payment-versus-payment, or PvP, settlement. Both sides of an FX transaction must settle at the same time. If one leg cannot be completed, the entire transaction stops automatically. That means neither side is left exposed to the risk of delivering one currency without receiving the other.
The project’s architecture keeps established banking message standards in place while shifting the final settlement process onto blockchain rails using regulated stablecoins. The emphasis is on changing the settlement layer without forcing banks to abandon current operating flows.
Live compliant transactions are planned within 12 months
Project participants plan to begin compliant live transactions within the next 12 months. Chainlink Vice President for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East Niki Ariyasinghe said the group is working toward operational deployment in that time frame.
The move follows earlier interoperability work between Chainlink and Swift. The source material also notes that Chainlink partnered with the Global Alliance for KRW Stablecoins in January 2026. Separately, Qivalis expanded from 12 member banks to 37 by May 2026 and continues to build regulated euro stablecoin infrastructure within the broader Project Pangea framework.