Chainlink announced a multinational banking initiative across Europe and South Korea aimed at developing a real-time foreign exchange settlement framework, marking a new push to move parts of the global FX market away from the traditional T+2 model and toward instant, on-chain settlement.
Chainlink, the on-chain infrastructure provider, said its new project, called Pangea, brings together banking groups representing 37 European banks and more than 10 South Korean commercial banks with blockchain market infrastructure providers to explore a faster foreign exchange settlement network for cross-border currency transactions.
The initiative is aimed at reducing settlement delays, lowering liquidity pressure and creating a more direct route for banks to settle international currency transactions, according to the announcement.
European and Korean banks test faster FX settlement rails
Project Pangea is designed to explore direct, atomic Payment-versus-Payment swaps using compliant EUR and KRW stablecoins, with the goal of reducing delays, settlement risk and liquidity pressure in cross-border currency transactions.
The initiative includes UniKA, the Korean coalition behind the project, whose steering committee includes Shinhan Bank, JB Bank, Kbank, FairSquareLab and OBDIA, alongside more than 10 Korean commercial banks. Qivalis, a euro stablecoin consortium powered by 37 European banks, is also participating.
Chainlink said the network would use its data, interoperability and orchestration standards, while FairSquareLab would contribute its onchain FX settlement technology.
The framework is intended to connect existing banking systems to blockchain-based settlement using ISO 20022 messaging standards and Swift infrastructure.
Three-layer model links banks to blockchain settlement
Under the proposed architecture, banks would continue using familiar payment messaging systems, while settlement instructions are translated into on-chain actions through Chainlink’s infrastructure.
Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol would support transfers of euro stablecoins across networks, while Chainlink Data Streams would provide real-time FX market data to help synchronize on-chain quotes with broader market pricing. Its Runtime Environment would act as the orchestration layer between Swift and blockchain networks.
FairSquareLab’s technology would provide a multi-currency stablecoin liquidity engine for interbank FX settlement, using trusted FX oracle quotes rather than bonding-curve pricing.
Its Pangea L1 network is planned as a neutral settlement-dedicated blockchain where FX contracts would operate independently of any single country or participating bank.
Fernando Vazquez, president of capital markets at Chainlink Labs, called the launch “a major milestone toward rebuilding how global value moves,” adding that Project Pangea upgrades today’s fragmented FX model with “direct, atomic currency swaps using stablecoins.”
New FX bridge connects Korean won and euro markets
For South Korea, the project is being framed as a way to strengthen direct access between the won and global currency markets.
“For Korea, Project Pangea is more than an efficiency gain — it opens a path for the Korean won to connect more directly with global currency markets, reducing reliance on intermediary currencies,” said Joonhong Kim, CEO of FairSquareLab.
Qivalis said the project could place its upcoming euro stablecoin at the center of institutional FX innovation by linking regulated EUR and KRW stablecoins through atomic settlement.
Jean-Luc Gustave, head of partnerships for APAC at Qivalis, said the model could move the industry “past theoretical use cases” and show how new infrastructure may optimize trade corridors between Europe and South Korea.
The project comes as the global FX market, despite processing more than $9.6 trillion a day, remains slowed by fragmented infrastructure, intermediary currency conversions and reconciliation layers that can delay settlement and tie up capital.
While still positioned as a collaborative task force, Project Pangea signals how banks are increasingly testing stablecoins not as retail payment tools, but as settlement instruments for high-volume institutional markets where speed, liquidity and counterparty risk remain central concerns.
