Grayscale has said that Chainlink will be at the center of the next major phase of blockchain adoption, referring to the project as the “critical connective tissue” that links crypto to traditional finance.

In a recent research report, the asset manager argued that Chainlink (LINK)’s growing suite of software tools is emerging as essential infrastructure for tokenization, crosschain settlement and the broader shift toward real-world assets on blockchain rails.

“A more accurate description of Chainlink today would be modular middleware that lets on-chain applications safely use off-chain data, interact across blockchains, and meet enterprise-grade compliance needs,” Grayscale wrote.

The company added that this expanding footprint has helped turn LINK into the largest non–layer 1 crypto asset by market cap (excluding stablecoins), giving investors exposure to multiple ecosystems rather than a single chain.

Related: Asset manager Grayscale Investments files for US IPO

Chainlink will orchestrate tokenization boom

According to Grayscale, tokenization is the clearest pathway where Chainlink’s value becomes obvious. Today, nearly all financial assets, from securities to real estate, are still recorded on off-chain ledgers. For these assets to gain the efficiency and programmability of blockchains, they must be tokenized, verified and connected to external data sources.

“We expect Chainlink to play a central role orchestrating the process of tokenization, and it has announced a variety of partnerships, including with S&P Global and FTSE/Russel, that should help it do so,” the asset manager wrote.

The tokenized asset market has grown from $5 billion to more than $35.6 billion since early 2023, according to RWA.xyz.

Related: Emory University ups stake in Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF to $52M

Chainlink, JPMorgan, Ondo Complete first crosschain DvP settlement

In June, Chainlink, JPMorgan’s Kinexys network and Ondo Finance completed a crosschain delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement between a permissioned bank payment system and a public blockchain testnet.

The pilot connected Kinexys Digital Payments, JPMorgan’s permissioned payment network, with Ondo Chain’s testnet, which specializes in tokenized real-world assets. Using Chainlink’s Runtime Environment (CRE) as the coordination layer, the settlement exchanged Ondo’s tokenized US Treasurys fund, OUSG, for fiat payment without the assets leaving their native chains.

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