Fulcrum Tackles Idle Institutional Collateral with Cross-Chain Delivery

Chainlink's Fulcrum platform aims to tackle the problem of idle institutional collateral. According to Chainlink, around 25% of institutional assets sits idle due to settlement cutoffs and operational friction.

This costs the average Tier 1 firm about $346 million in forgone revenue per year, as estimated by Citi. To address this issue, Fulcrum separates where a financing agreement is managed from where cash and collateral actually settle.

The platform uses Chainlink's CRE, CCIP, and Data Streams components to facilitate cross-chain delivery-versus-delivery. Counterparties set their own terms, including eligible assets, financing rates, haircuts, and rehypothecation policies.

Fulcrum demonstrated a successful cross-chain securities-financing transaction with DTCC in 2026. However, the platform is still in the process of being integrated with TradFi venues, and no institutional transaction volume has been disclosed.