Chainlink’s momentum across traditional finance is now undeniable. CCIP has become a powerful bridge between private bank ledgers and public blockchains. Its integrations with SWIFT, DTCC, Euroclear, SIX, TMX and global banks are transforming how tokenized assets move and settle.
But as Jackson explains, Chainlink’s capabilities — interoperability, messaging translation, proof-of-reserves, and execution routing — represent only one layer of the programmable financial system. The emerging digital asset ecosystem also requires:
Chainlink moves data, Jackson says, but it doesn’t understand data — and cannot supply the identity, privacy, or AI layers required by CBDCs, digital securities, and tokenized deposits.
This leaves four major architectural gaps that new projects are beginning to fill.
Privacy has become one of the most non-negotiable requirements for institutional blockchain adoption. Wholesale CBDCs, tokenized government bonds, tokenized deposits, and stablecoin settlement all require privacy-preserving infrastructure that regulators can audit — but the public cannot.
Chainlink does not offer:
A privacy-focused chain — one that supports programmable privacy with regulatory guarantees — is required to bridge this gap. Jackson identifies a project in this category that integrates cleanly with CCIP and wholesale CBDC architecture.
In regulated markets, knowing what an asset is matters as much as moving it.
Financial institutions need systems that understand:
Chainlink CRE can format data, but cannot interpret it or build knowledge-graph level reasoning.
Jackson highlights a decentralized provenance network that provides:
This becomes crucial for tokenized securities, Project Guardian, tokenized equity markets, and XRPL AMM liquidity routing.
To settle tokenized assets, you need tokenized cash — treasuries, deposits, or compliant stablecoins. Chainlink can verify reserves via Proof of Reserves, but it cannot issue or manage the tokenized instruments themselves.
Bank-grade settlement requires:
Jackson identifies a protocol purpose-built for tokenized treasuries — one that already integrates with CCIP and aligns with wholesale settlement standards.
This fills the “cash leg” missing from the Chainlink stack, enabling full RWA settlement without reliance on nostro/vostro accounts.
Chainlink verifies data. But regulators require AI systems that can:
This layer is essential for:
Jackson highlights both a crypto and an equity that deliver this “AI compliance layer,” forming the behavioural logic that Chainlink alone cannot provide.
Across global financial experiments — Project Guardian (MAS, HSBC, SBI), SWIFT x CCIP, Securitize’s tokenized equity, HSBC’s tokenized deposits, the Hong Kong and Brazil CBDC pilots — the same pattern emerges:
Interoperability alone is not enough.
Modern settlement architecture requires:
Together, these form the seven-layer “programmable settlement stack” Jackson often describes. Chainlink is indispensable — but incomplete.
The undervalued projects Jackson identifies each complete one of the missing layers, which is why they now appear in the latest expansion of the Inevitable Portfolio.
In the episode, Jackson names four projects — each occupying one of the critical missing layers. While this report preserves the categories, the specifics sit within the episode itself.
These are the assets completing the programmable financial ecosystem that Chainlink enables — but cannot perform alone.
Lewis Jackson Ventures categorises the following themes as increasingly critical:
Chainlink (LINK), Ethereum, XRP, Quant (QNT)
ONDO, Securitize, TRAC, Plume, tokenized-deposit ecosystems
Projects providing ZK infrastructure, compliance AI, and cross-chain privacy
USDC, RLUSD, tokenized treasuries
These are not competing systems — they are complementary layers of the same architecture.
To see which specific crypto projects Jackson identifies — and how they complete the new financial system’s missing layers — watch the full episode of The Macro.
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