BNP Paribas Says It Needs a Multi-Chain Abstraction Layer

A BNP Paribas executive told the Sibos 2026 conference in Miami that the bank needs an abstraction layer to reach multiple blockchains, framing fragmentation — not issuance — as the binding constraint on institutional tokenization. The remarks came during panels on tokenized assets and cross-chain settlement that also featured representatives from Deutsche Bank, according to the conference program and session discussions.

Sibos ran in Miami from late September to early October. The annual gathering is the global payments and banking industry's flagship event. This year the agenda leaned heavily on interoperability and collateral mobility rather than token issuance itself.

Hughes' point comes down to scale. A bank like BNP Paribas does not run one system. It runs many, built for different business lines. And the blockchain world is not converging on a single network either. That leaves a connective gap between internal infrastructure and a multiplying set of chains.

What does this change for tokenized assets?

Tokenization — representing assets like fund shares or bonds as tokens on a blockchain — has become a fixture on bank conference agendas. The harder question has always been what happens after the token exists.

If a tokenized fund sits on one chain and the collateral needed to settle a trade sits on another, the asset is only as useful as the bridge between them. That is why Sibos sessions focused on collateral mobility and cross-chain settlement rather than just issuance.

What is BNP Paribas already building?

The bank has not been waiting on the sidelines. It has pursued tokenization projects including money market fund shares issued on a public blockchain with permissioned access.

It is also developing an initiative called DAWN, aimed at connecting to multiple blockchains. In other words, BNP Paribas is already building toward the multi-chain setup Hughes described, which gives his abstraction-layer comment practical weight rather than pure conference rhetoric.

What did Chainlink bring to Sibos?

Chainlink had a strong presence throughout the conference, which fits its institutional pitch: cross-chain connectivity is its core product story. The company used the event to present CCIP 2.0 and Fulcrum, positioning both as ways to help institutions move tokenized workflows from pilot projects into full production.

For Chainlink, the value of comments like Hughes' is mostly positioning. When a large bank executive publicly describes the exact problem your product claims to solve, that is useful validation — even without a deal attached.

What was left unsaid?

What was not disclosed is just as notable:

• No specific timelines for any BNP Paribas–Chainlink integration
• No deal values shared
• No performance metrics accompanying the product discussions

The competitive picture is also less settled than Chainlink's presence might suggest. BNP Paribas is building DAWN in-house, and nothing in the Sibos discussions confirms that Chainlink tooling will sit inside it.

What comes next?

The things worth watching are fairly specific. Look for whether DAWN gets a public rollout schedule. Watch whether BNP Paribas names technology providers for its multi-chain connectivity. And track whether Chainlink's CCIP 2.0 and Fulcrum show up in production deployments rather than conference demos — the clearest signal of whether institutional cross-chain infrastructure moves from talk to settlement rails in the coming cycle.