ChainLink has launched the ChainLink Runtime Environment (CRE), a new software platform designed to let institutions deploy smart contracts across public and private blockchains with built-in tools for compliance, privacy, and data integration.
Unveiled during chainlink’s SmartConCRE is part of the platform’s push to become the core infrastructure for financial institutions moving to blockchain-based rails.
Chainlink positioned CRE as a foundation for the tokenization shift, pointing out that major institutions including Swift, Euroclear, UBS, and Mastercard have adopted it “to capture the $867 trillion tokenization opportunity.”
Cre first Unveiled a year agowhere Chainlink likens the significance of the platform to that of the development of the Java environment for the internet era.
Unlike previous blockchain tooling, CRE offers a single environment where developers can write smart contracts that work across multiple blockchains, tap into financial messaging standards like ISO 20022, and comply with regulatory requirements.
CRE also includes access to existing ChainLink services such as price feeds and proof-of-reserve systems.
A number of major players are already using the platform. JPMorgan’s Kinexys and Ondo completed a cross-chain settlement using CRE, while UBS tokenize and digift leveraged it for the first on-chain redemption of a tokenized fund.
“Smart contracts have evolved into a more complex form, requiring synchronization across chains, data connectivity and identity, as well as synchronization with many other existing systems,” chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said.
“These advanced institutional contracts used to take months to get right, and with the launch of CRE we can now reduce that to weeks or even days,” added Nazarov.
ChainLink plans to add privacy features in early 2026, including confidential computing for institutions that need secure handling of proprietary data. CRE is now live on multiple blockchains and open to developers.
