Chainlink Interoperability Standard

There are currently hundreds of public and private blockchains and potentially thousands more to come in the future, each with its own distinct assets, applications, and users. To maximize liquidity and support cross-chain applications, a unified interoperability standard for sending data and value across blockchains must be established, akin to how TCP/IP unifies the Internet we know today.

The Chainlink interoperability standard, powered by the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) is an open, protocol-level specification for how a DON reads data on a source blockchain, verifies it, and writes it on a destination blockchain. The ISMS of CCIP has been certified under ISO 27001 and CCIP has completed a SOC 2 Type 1 attestation covering the Trust Services Criteria for security, availability, and confidentiality—demonstrating its commitment to secure and resilient infrastructure and operations.

Utilizing interoperability oracles, CCIP enables data and tokens to be seamlessly and securely transferred across blockchains. CCIP also supports Programmable Token Transfers, where data (messages) and value (tokens) can move together across chains, particularly to instruct the receiving smart contract what to do with the tokens once they arrive, such as deploying them in a lending market or using them to purchase an asset. The result is CCIP connecting all public and private blockchains into a single Internet of Contracts, driving unified liquidity and efficient cross-chain applications.

CCIP supports the Cross-Chain Token (CCT) standard for making any new or existing token cross-chain-enabled via CCIP. CCT allows self-serve deployments, full control and ownership for developers, enhanced programmability, and zero-slippage transfers—all backed by CCIP’s industry-standard defense-in-depth security. Notably, CCTs are token logic agnostic, meaning token developers can deploy pre-audited token pool contracts to turn any ERC20-compatible token into a CCT or deploy their own custom token pool contracts for bespoke token use cases. CCTs do not require token developers to inherit any CCIP-specific code within their token’s smart contract. Furthermore, token developers can participate in the security of their tokens through the Token Developer Attestation feature by attesting to token burn or lock events on source chains before CCIP can mint or unlock tokens on destination chains.