FTSE Russell, a leading global provider of market indices and data, is pioneering the publication of its key benchmark data directly on blockchain networks, marking a significant step in bridging traditional finance with decentralized finance (DeFi). In partnership with Chainlink, the widely adopted decentralized oracle service, FTSE Russell will make its global equity, foreign exchange (FX), and digital asset benchmarks accessible on more than 50 public and private blockchains through Chainlink’s DataLink service.
This move enables over 2,000 applications across diverse blockchain ecosystems to securely access and utilise FTSE Russell’s market index data. The indexes covered include prominent benchmarks such as the Russell 1000, Russell 2000, Russell 3000, and FTSE 100, which are instrumental in guiding investment decisions globally. By integrating these indexes on-chain, developers and institutions can reliably reference real-time data in a way that is transparent, verifiable, and resistant to tampering or central points of failure.
According to Fiona Bassett, CEO of FTSE Russell, using Chainlink’s infrastructure to publish these indices on blockchain networks ensures secure distribution of the underlying benchmark data, providing trusted and high-quality information that powers traditional finance. This strategic collaboration is characterised as transforming standard financial benchmarks into "programmable, verifiable financial primitives," which suggests that these indices will now support automated financial contracts and structured products directly within blockchain environments.
At the core of this innovation are blockchain oracles like Chainlink, which serve as critical data bridges between the off-chain world and smart contracts on blockchain networks. Oracles collect market data from verified sources, validate it through multiple independent nodes, and deliver cryptographically signed records on-chain, thus maintaining accuracy and transparency without reliance on a single intermediary. Chainlink’s DataLink extends this model by institutionalising how data is published on-chain, allowing complex datasets such as index values, currency rates, and equities pricing to be securely integrated into decentralized applications.
Ram Kumar from OpenLedger describes this integration as a bridge between traditional financial standards and DeFi infrastructure that enhances institutional legitimacy in on-chain finance. With real-time, trusted $18 trillion benchmark data available on-chain, financial institutions can innovate tokenised index products, structured notes, and other advanced financial instruments, while developers gain access to deterministic, high-integrity data facilitating products like index-tracking vaults, options, and autonomous rebalancing agents with auditable risk management frameworks.
This initiative follows a broader trend seen with other major market data providers such as Deutsche Börse Market Data + Services, which recently partnered with Chainlink to similarly publish their real-time multi-asset data on-chain. Chainlink’s expanding suite of services, including Data Streams for U.S. equities and ETFs, further underlines the growing demand for secure, high-throughput financial data in the tokenized asset landscape, supporting a new wave of DeFi innovation focused on real-world asset tokenisation.
The DataLink platform itself is designed to lower the barriers for data providers entering the blockchain economy. It requires no specialised blockchain expertise, facilitating the smooth integration of a wide variety of market data sets onto multiple blockchains. Data providers also benefit from features such as access control, enhanced data commercialisation, and push updates that deliver the latest information directly to smart contracts using Chainlink’s Decentralized Oracle Networks, ensuring continuous and reliable data flow.
In summary, FTSE Russell’s decision to put its indices on-chain through Chainlink marks a milestone for both traditional finance and the decentralized ecosystem. It lays the groundwork for more innovative, transparent, and programmable financial products while enhancing trust and data integrity for participants in the emerging on-chain economy.
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Source: Noah Wire Services