by Jake ClaverQuick answer: Project Guardian is a tokenization initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that tests how real-world assets such as bonds, funds, and foreign exchange can be issued and settled on blockchain networks under regulatory supervision. Its Interlinked Network Model lets institutions on different blockchains settle tokenized assets atomically, without forcing everyone onto a single chain. Launched in 2022, it now spans more than 40 financial institutions and policymakers.
Updated 07/17/2026. By Jake Claver. Educational content, not investment advice.
Tokenization has moved from whiteboard theory toward regulated pilots, and Singapore’s Project Guardian is one of the clearest examples. Rather than a single product, it is a collaboration between a central bank and dozens of financial firms testing how tokenized assets can trade and settle with the controls that regulated markets require.
This explainer covers what Project Guardian is, how its Interlinked Network Model works, who takes part, and why interoperability between blockchains matters for institutional finance. The technology is described here on its own terms; none of it is a market forecast or a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
What Project Guardian is
Project Guardian is a policy-and-industry initiative run through the Monetary Authority of Singapore to study the value and risks of asset tokenization in regulated markets. It organizes work into distinct tracks covering fixed income, foreign exchange, and asset and wealth management, with live trials issuing and trading tokenized bonds, funds, and structured products.
The goal is not speculation. It is to see whether representing an asset as a token on a shared ledger can reduce settlement friction, free up collateral, and open new ways to distribute funds, all while staying inside supervisory guardrails.
The Interlinked Network Model
The central technical idea is that tokenized markets will not live on one blockchain. Different institutions will use different ledgers, so the networks have to talk to each other. Project Guardian’s Interlinked Network Model (INM) is a proposed way to do that. It lets institutions on separate networks execute atomic delivery-versus-payment settlement across platforms, meaning the asset and the payment change hands together or not at all, without consolidating everything onto a single chain.
The design is set out in the MAS Interlinking Networks technical whitepaper, which describes common archetypes for the issuance, distribution, and transfer of digital assets and introduces a reference model for cross-network exchanges. As that MAS technical paper puts it, cross-network communication allows digital currencies and digital assets to be transacted across separate networks, whether token-based or account-based, for cross-border transactions, so value can pass from an originator through intermediaries to a beneficiary.
Who takes part
Project Guardian’s weight comes from its membership. It has grown to more than 40 financial institutions, industry associations, and policymakers across multiple jurisdictions. Contributors to the interlinking-networks work have included global banks and technology firms such as DBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and SWIFT, alongside blockchain and interoperability providers.
Industry bodies have joined too. The Global Financial Markets Association, the International Capital Market Association, and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association have participated in the fixed-income workstream, which matters because tokenized markets need shared legal and data conventions, not just shared code.
Standards, funds, and shared infrastructure
Two threads show how the work is maturing. First, standards: the Guardian Fixed Income Framework brings together an industry bond data taxonomy, token standards, and design principles for tokenized securities so that a tokenized bond issued by one member is legible to another. Second, operations: MAS and its partners published guidance on running tokenized funds end to end, covering issuance, servicing, and settlement, in the Project Guardian operationalising tokenised funds paper. Separate initiatives have explored shared-ledger infrastructure to support tokenized assets at scale.
How it connects to cross-border settlement
Project Guardian does not sit alone. It rhymes with wholesale work at the Bank for International Settlements, whose Project Agora brings eight central banks and more than 40 financial institutions together to test tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits for atomic, multi-currency cross-border settlement. The BIS committee on payments has also mapped the broader concepts: its CPMI report on tokenisation in payments and settlement notes that token arrangements can “decrease transaction costs and enable innovative use cases,” while cautioning that familiar financial-infrastructure risks still apply and “may materialise differently.” In the United States, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission maintains a public digital assets resource for how regulators there frame the same questions.
Why this matters
The practical stake is interoperability. If tokenization is going to touch regulated capital markets, the assets, the cash leg, and the legal wrapper all have to move together across institutions that will never share one ledger. Project Guardian is a working attempt to specify how that happens, with real banks, real assets, and a regulator in the room. Whether tokenized markets scale is still an open question, and the pilots are deliberately cautious. The value here is the blueprint and the risk analysis, both of which are being published openly for others to scrutinize, and neither of which says anything about the price of any token.
Common questions
What is MAS Project Guardian?
Project Guardian is a tokenization initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore that tests how real-world assets such as bonds, funds, and foreign exchange can be issued and settled on blockchain networks under regulatory supervision. It was launched in 2022 and involves more than 40 institutions and policymakers.
What is the Interlinked Network Model?
The Interlinked Network Model is Project Guardian’s proposed design for letting institutions on different blockchains settle tokenized assets atomically across platforms, using delivery-versus-payment, without consolidating everyone onto a single chain.
What assets does Project Guardian tokenize?
Trials have covered fixed income (bonds), foreign exchange, and asset and wealth management products such as funds and structured products. The point is to test tokenization across several regulated asset classes rather than a single use case.
Is Project Guardian the same as a central bank digital currency?
No. Project Guardian focuses on tokenizing financial assets and enabling settlement across networks. It is related to but distinct from central bank digital currency work, though tokenized cash and reserves are part of the broader settlement picture explored by initiatives like the BIS Project Agora.
Does tokenization remove financial risk?
No. Regulators note that familiar financial-infrastructure risks still apply to tokenized systems and may simply materialize in different ways. Tokenization changes how assets are represented and settled; it does not eliminate credit, operational, or governance risk.
This content is educational only. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
