Institutional DeFi Is Upgrading Global Financial Infrastructure

The global foreign exchange market handles more than $9.6 trillion in daily trading volume, while conventional cross-border transactions are typically settled on a T+2 basis. Payments and asset deliveries do not occur simultaneously, allowing counterparty and liquidity risks to accumulate during the settlement period. By combining trading and settlement through tokenized assets, regulated stablecoins and atomic swaps, institutional DeFi has become a focus for banks and regulators seeking to modernize market infrastructure.

Chainlink, FairSquareLab, South Korea's UniKA and Europe's Qivalis launched Project Pangea on June 23, 2026. Participating institutions manage more than $10 trillion in assets. UniKA has a steering committee comprising five institutions, including Shinhan Bank, as well as more than 10 other banks, while Qivalis encompasses 37 European banks. The project will test T+0 atomic settlement for euro- and won-denominated stablecoins, replacing the T+2 model.