FTSE Russell, one of the world’s largest providers of market indices and data, has taken a significant step toward blockchain integration by publishing its benchmark data directly on blockchain networks through Chainlink. This collaboration marks the first time the firm’s global equity, foreign exchange, and digital asset indices will be available on-chain—an advancement that could reshape how financial data is accessed and verified in decentralized environments.

A Milestone in Financial Data Integration

The move allows FTSE Russell’s index data to be distributed via Chainlink’s DataLink service, which connects verified financial information to over 2,000 decentralized applications across more than 50 public and private blockchains.

According to Fiona Bassett, CEO of FTSE Russell, the goal is to make the company’s trusted benchmark data “securely available to both traditional and digital finance ecosystems.” By doing so, the collaboration aims to bridge the gap between regulated financial systems and decentralized applications.

“This integration ensures that the high-quality data powering traditional markets can now be securely distributed to institutions and developers within blockchain networks,” Bassett said in the announcement.

What This Means for Finance and Blockchain

By placing benchmark data directly on-chain, FTSE Russell effectively turns its indices into programmable financial components that can be used by decentralized applications and smart contracts.

Ram Kumar, a core contributor at OpenLedger, said this step “transforms traditional reference indices into programmable, verifiable financial primitives.” He explained that the collaboration “bridges TradFi standards with DeFi infrastructure,” bringing institutional-grade legitimacy to the emerging world of on-chain finance.

This connection could allow developers to create new blockchain-based products that automatically react to real-time market movements—something previously limited by off-chain data silos.

How Blockchain Oracles Power the System

The key to this collaboration lies in Chainlink’s oracle technology, which acts as a bridge between blockchain networks and external data sources. Blockchains themselves cannot access real-world data, so oracles like Chainlink play a critical role in feeding verified information into smart contracts.

Each oracle network gathers data from multiple trusted sources, verifies it through independent nodes, and publishes a cryptographically signed record on-chain. This process ensures accuracy and eliminates reliance on a single centralized data provider.

By using Chainlink’s oracle infrastructure, FTSE Russell’s benchmarks can now be accessed directly by decentralized applications, traders, and institutions. This system provides the same trusted market data used in traditional finance—now with the transparency, verifiability, and auditability that blockchain technology enables.

Opening the Door for Tokenized Index Products

With benchmark indices now available on-chain, financial developers gain new opportunities to create innovative investment products. Institutions can design tokenized index funds, structured notes, or automated trading strategies that reference FTSE Russell’s data in real time.

Ram Kumar pointed out that these on-chain datasets could allow institutions to “develop tokenized index products and structured notes with real-time, on-chain price feeds backed by a trusted $18 trillion benchmark provider.”

Developers, on the other hand, can use this data to build decentralized applications capable of index tracking, automated portfolio rebalancing, or even risk management systems that align with global financial standards.

“These are deterministic, high-integrity data sources,” Kumar added. “They allow developers to create systems that adjust automatically to benchmark movements, bringing transparency and auditability to financial automation.”

Chainlink’s Expanding Role in Institutional Finance

Chainlink’s collaboration with FTSE Russell is part of a broader effort to bring traditional financial data on-chain. The decentralized oracle network has already integrated with major institutions and asset managers, helping them access blockchain infrastructure while maintaining compliance and data integrity.

In September, Chainlink also began expanding its partnerships with government and public-sector entities in the United States under the Trump administration. These efforts aim to bring more official datasets, including regulatory and economic data, onto blockchain networks through verified channels.

This strategy aligns with Chainlink’s long-term vision to make reliable data feeds accessible to both private and public institutions. Its technology has already become a foundation for many decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, providing price oracles and data verification services that power multi-billion-dollar ecosystems.

A Step Toward Mainstream On-Chain Adoption

FTSE Russell’s integration with Chainlink reflects a growing recognition that the future of finance may rely on open, interoperable systems. Bringing benchmark data on-chain enhances transparency, reduces dependency on intermediaries, and allows for faster, automated interactions between traditional and decentralized markets.

It also paves the way for hybrid financial models, where institutions use blockchain not for speculation but for efficiency and data integrity. Such developments could lead to the next wave of institutional blockchain adoption—where real-world assets, benchmarks, and financial products coexist on verifiable, interoperable networks.

FTSE Russell’s indices are among the most influential benchmarks in global finance, helping determine the composition of investment funds and influencing trillions of dollars in capital allocation. Making these benchmarks available on-chain gives developers and institutions alike the ability to build around them in entirely new ways.

The Road Ahead

For FTSE Russell and Chainlink, this collaboration marks only the beginning of what could become a broader trend among data providers. As more institutions recognize the value of bringing data to decentralized systems, similar integrations may follow across credit ratings, commodity indices, and macroeconomic indicators.

The collaboration underscores how blockchain technology is evolving beyond speculation and toward infrastructure-level utility. By connecting regulated, real-world data with the transparency of decentralized networks, both companies are helping define how the next era of finance could function—efficient, secure, and open to all.