Bottomline taps Chainlink to bring on-chain payments to 600 banks

Bottomline connects 600 banks to blockchains via Chainlink

In a press release issued on September 17, 2026, Bottomline, a U.S.-based provider ranked among the top three Swift service suppliers globally, unveiled Global Pay Connect, its new SaaS (Software as a Service) payment connectivity platform.

This platform enables financial institutions to connect their existing payment infrastructures—whether based on Swift, SEPA, CHAPS, or other rails—to blockchain networks. Chainlink (LINK) provides the interoperability layer that makes this connection possible for over 600 banks.

NEW: Bottomline, a top-three Swift service provider moving $16+ trillion in payments annually, has launched Global Pay Connect, a new onchain payment connectivity platform for 600+ banks powered by Chainlink.@bottomlinepay and Chainlink are now giving financial institutions a… pic.twitter.com/CyRzEljJ2g

— Chainlink (@chainlink) September 17, 2026

Multiple traditional payment networks to be interconnected with blockchains

Beyond Swift, Global Pay Connect covers a wide range of payment rails, both international and domestic. As mentioned above, the platform also supports SEPA for the Eurozone, Bacs and CHAPS for the U.K., SIC for Switzerland, CHIPS for the U.S., Lynx for Canada, and EBICS for continental Europe.

Global Pay Connect will also handle host-to-host connections established directly between banks and enterprises. Bottomline's new platform thus aims to unify the essential payment messaging systems used by major banks, reaching far beyond Swift.

According to research by Bottomline, 40% of CFOs cite outdated infrastructure as the primary obstacle to adopting real-time payments. Worse, only 28% believe that the adoption of SaaS within their institution is truly modern. These figures highlight the technological lag built up by part of the banking sector, even as regulatory pressure (ISO 20022, cross-border payment transparency) continues to intensify.

Chainlink's CCIP and CRE at the heart of this new framework

Technically, the integration relies on two of Chainlink's flagship products. The first, the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), connects Bottomline's payment infrastructure to various blockchain networks through a single integration model. The second, the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), orchestrates end-to-end payment flows, both on-chain and off-chain.

The result, according to Chainlink, is that banks can access blockchain payment rails while maintaining their standard Swift protocols and messaging systems. There is no need to rebuild their systems or develop specific integrations for every individual network.

Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, summarizes the stakes: "By combining Bottomline's reach with Chainlink's infrastructure, Global Pay Connect enables hundreds of financial institutions to use their existing infrastructure to access on-chain payment rails via a single, network-agnostic connection."

TradFi seeks connectivity with on-chain payment rails

From Bottomline's side, Vitus Rotzer, Global Head of Banking GTM, frames the initiative as a logical continuity between traditional rails and new on-chain payment models:

Global Pay Connect acts as a bridge between current payment infrastructure requirements and the future evolution of payment ecosystems. The platform will help institutions extract more value from payment data through intelligent validation and AI-enhanced analytics, all while supporting emerging models like digital assets and tokenization.

This statement reflects the desire of TradFi actors not to be left behind by the shift to on-chain rails, but rather to orchestrate it from within their own infrastructures.

Another step toward institutional adoption

This partnership is part of a series of strategic agreements signed by Chainlink with major players in traditional finance. In recent months, the oracle protocol has notably been selected by the DTCC for its future tokenization platform and by the State of Wyoming to verify the reserves of its official FRNT stablecoin.

Another factor weighing in is that Bottomline is not an isolated actor. Since May 2022, the company has been owned by Thoma Bravo, which acquired it for approximately $2.6 billion. Thoma Bravo is no ordinary fund: it is one of the world's largest software-focused private equity investors, with over $170 billion in assets under management, adding a new dimension to this on-chain bet driven by Global Pay Connect.

In terms of market reaction, the impact on the LINK price is positive but measured, with the token trading around $11.25 as of this writing, up 5.1% over 24 hours. It remains to be seen how many of the 600 potentially eligible banks will effectively transition to on-chain use cases. However, with Swift as an entry point, Chainlink continues to methodically position itself at the crossroads between TradFi and DeFi.

Sources: Bottomline press release, Chainlink on X