JPMorgan's Kinexys Settles $1.5T in Tokenized Treasuries on Ondo Chain

Kinexys, a platform developed by JPMorgan, has successfully conducted a landmark transaction involving the settlement of tokenized U.S. Treasuries on the Ondo Chain. This groundbreaking event marks a significant step in the integration of traditional finance (TradFi) with decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure. The transaction, which took place on May 14, utilized Chainlink's Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) to facilitate an atomic Delivery versus Payment (DvP) settlement between Kinexys' private blockchain and the public Ondo Chain.

The asset involved in the transaction was Ondo Finance’s Short-Term U.S. Government Treasuries Fund (OUSG), a tokenized treasury product. Kinexys served as the payment leg, settling through blockchain deposit accounts on its digital payments network. Chainlink's CRE played a crucial role by orchestrating the atomic exchange, ensuring seamless coordination between the two networks while maintaining high institutional standards for security and compliance.

This successful test demonstrates the potential for institutional liquidity to flow seamlessly between private bank ledgers and public blockchains, paving the way for "programmable settlement rails" in future capital markets. The Head of Platform Settlement Solutions at Kinexys, Nelli Zaltsman, highlighted the platform's design to support JPMorgan’s institutional clients by enhancing the current payment experience and anticipating future needs. By securely connecting with both public and private blockchain infrastructure, Kinexys aims to offer scalable solutions for settlement.

The transaction addresses long-standing challenges in traditional finance, where fragmented systems and manual workflows often cause costly delays. By settling both asset and payment legs on-chain, counterparty and settlement risks are reduced, while liquidity management and transparency are improved. This milestone marks the first-of-its-kind cross-chain, atomic DvP transaction, showcasing the convergence of TradFi and DeFi.

Sergey Nazarov, Co-founder of Chainlink, emphasized the significance of this collaboration, stating that it is a clear sign of the TradFi and DeFi convergence that has been discussed for years. Chainlink was built to enable secure, institutional-grade transactions across multiple blockchains, and this collaboration with Kinexys and Ondo shows that institutions now recognize the public blockchain community as a major opportunity.

JPMorgan’s involvement in this space dates back to 2019 when it launched its private blockchain, later rebranded as Kinexys. The platform has processed over $1.5 trillion in notional value to date, with daily volume averaging more than $2 billion. This move comes as the total value locked in real-world assets (RWAs) across DeFi platforms surpasses $12 billion, indicating surging interest from large players. The financial sector is in the first phase of adoption, focused on familiar instruments like treasuries and money market funds. As infrastructure matures and regulation advances, the shift toward tokenizing complex assets such as private credit and real estate is already underway.