The recent collaboration between Chainlink and Swift marks a key step in linking traditional finance with blockchain. This partnership lets banks handle digital assets through Swift’s messaging network. It avoids the need for big changes to their current setups. In Singapore, this ties directly to Project Guardian. That project tests tokenization of real-world assets. The result? Singapore strengthens its role as a hub for asset management. The fund industry here handles over $100 trillion in assets worldwide. This integration could lower costs and speed up processes. It also keeps rules in place. Banks like UBS have tested it. They used standard messages to start blockchain actions for tokenized funds. This setup uses Chainlink’s tools to bridge old and new systems.
Main Development
Chainlink has built a framework that connects financial institutions to digital asset workflows. It uses Swift’s global messaging system. No major upgrades to infrastructure are needed. Existing processes stay the same. This means banks can add blockchain features without tearing down their current tech.
To understand this, think of Swift as the backbone for bank communications. It sends messages about payments and trades each day. Chainlink adds a layer on top. This layer pulls in blockchain data and automates tasks. For example, a bank sends a message about a fund trade. Chainlink’s system picks it up and triggers the right actions on the blockchain. All this happens in real time. It reduces errors and delays that banks face now.
The core of this framework is Chainlink’s Runtime Environment, or CRE. CRE acts like a smart control center. It receives messages from Swift and decides what to do next. This setup ensures security and follows bank rules. No new hardware or software overhauls required. Banks just plug it in.
How It Works
Banks send messages in ISO 20022 format. This is the global standard for financial talks. It covers details like payment amounts and trade instructions. When a bank like UBS sends such a message through Swift, it reaches Chainlink’s CRE.
CRE then starts processes on the blockchain. For instance, it handles subscriptions and redemptions for tokenized funds. A tokenized fund is like a digital version of a traditional investment fund. Shares are represented as tokens on a blockchain. Chainlink’s Digital Transfer Agent manages these tokens. It checks ownership and moves them securely.
Let’s break it down step by step. First, the bank creates an ISO 20022 message. This message says, “Redeem 100 shares of this fund.” Swift routes it to the right place. CRE reads it and connects to the blockchain network. It verifies the request against rules. If all checks pass, the transfer happens. The owner gets their assets back in digital form. The whole process takes minutes, not days.
This matters because ISO 20022 is already rolling out worldwide. Over 200 countries use it for payments. By tying it to blockchain, banks avoid learning new formats. They build on what they know. In tests, UBS completed a full cycle: message sent, blockchain action triggered, fund redeemed. No hiccups in the middle.
Business Impact
This solution pushes on-chain automation into the fund industry. That sector manages more than $100 trillion in assets each year. Automation cuts costs by streamlining paperwork and checks. It also fits with regulations. Banks must follow strict rules on data and security. This plug-and-play model lets them do that without big expenses.
Imagine a global bank. It deals with funds across borders. Right now, settlements can take days and cost fees at each step. With this integration, blockchain handles the heavy lift. Costs drop because fewer middlemen are needed. A report from Boston Consulting Group notes that tokenization could save the industry $15 billion to $20 billion a year by 2030. Singapore banks stand to gain a lot here. They manage a big share of Asia’s funds.
The model is simple to adopt. Institutions connect to Chainlink’s network. They access blockchain tools right away. No need to replace core systems that cost millions. This lowers barriers for smaller players too. They can compete with giants.
Broader Context
This work builds on Singapore’s Project Guardian. Launched in 2022, the project tests how tokenization works for real assets like bonds and funds. Singapore’s Monetary Authority leads it. Over 12 financial firms joined, including UBS and DBS Bank. They ran pilots on digital payments and asset trades. Chainlink’s role here extends those tests. It makes the bridge to Swift even stronger.
Singapore sits at the heart of Asia’s finance scene. It oversees $4 trillion in assets under management. That’s about 20% of Asia’s total. The city-state pushes fintech hard. It has tax breaks for funds and clear rules for digital assets. This integration positions Singapore as a leader. Banks here can test and scale blockchain faster than elsewhere.
Chainlink partners with 24 global banks and groups like DTCC and Euroclear. They run a pilot with AI to standardize corporate actions. These are events like stock splits or dividends. Poor data handling costs banks billions yearly—up to $5 billion in the U.S. alone, per industry estimates. AI from Chainlink cleans and shares this data on blockchain. It cuts errors and speeds processing.
Swift also launched its own pilot. It uses Ethereum’s Layer 2 network called Linea. Banks like BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon join in. They test on-chain messages and settlements with stablecoin-like tokens. Stablecoins hold steady value, like a digital dollar. This pilot explores how Swift messages can settle trades instantly on blockchain.
Together, these efforts create a bridge. Traditional finance meets blockchain without chaos. Compatibility comes first. Banks keep their tools but gain speed and safety. In Singapore, this means more innovation. Local firms like Temasek could tokenize their portfolios. Regulators ensure it all stays safe.
For readers wondering about risks: Security is key. Chainlink uses oracles to verify data from outside the blockchain. Swift adds its encryption. Tests show no breaches so far. Still, adoption will grow slowly as rules catch up.
This integration sets the stage for wider use. Singapore’s ecosystem thrives on such steps. It draws talent and capital. The fund industry here could see real growth. Automation brings efficiency. Blockchain adds trust. The future looks solid.
The recent collaboration between Chainlink and Swift represents a pivotal moment in the convergence of traditional finance and blockchain technology. By enabling banks to trigger blockchain transactions using ISO 20022 messages without infrastructure overhauls, this integration addresses one of the most significant barriers to institutional blockchain adoption. For Singapore, a nation positioning itself as a global fintech and digital asset hub, this development carries profound implications for its financial services sector, regulatory framework, and strategic ambitions in the digital economy.
Understanding the Technical Architecture
The Integration Framework
The Chainlink-Swift integration operates through a sophisticated yet elegant technical architecture that preserves existing banking infrastructure while unlocking blockchain functionality:
ISO 20022 Messaging Layer: Banks continue using the global standard for financial communications that they already employ for trillions of dollars in daily transactions. This message format contains structured data about payment instructions, securities transactions, and other financial operations.
Swift Network Interface: Messages flow through Swift’s secure, time-tested messaging network that connects over 11,000 financial institutions worldwide. For banks, this means no new connectivity requirements or security protocols to implement.
Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE): This serves as the translation layer, receiving ISO 20022 messages from Swift and converting them into blockchain-compatible instructions. The CRE acts as a secure bridge, maintaining the integrity and security standards required for financial transactions.
Digital Transfer Agent: Once instructions are translated, Chainlink’s Digital Transfer Agent executes the actual blockchain operations, such as minting, transferring, or redeeming tokenized assets. This component handles the cryptographic operations and smart contract interactions that would typically require specialized blockchain infrastructure.
Why This Architecture Matters
Traditional blockchain integration required banks to build entirely new systems: wallet infrastructure, key management solutions, blockchain node operations, new security protocols, identity verification systems, and settlement mechanisms. Each of these components represented significant capital expenditure, operational risk, and regulatory complexity.
The Chainlink-Swift model eliminates these requirements. A bank can participate in tokenized asset markets using the same messaging infrastructure it employs for conventional correspondent banking. This “plug-and-play” approach reduces implementation timelines from years to months and capital requirements from tens of millions to a fraction of that cost.
Singapore’s Strategic Position
Project Guardian: The Foundation
Singapore’s involvement in this integration didn’t begin with the recent pilot. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) laid the groundwork through Project Guardian, launched in 2022 as an industry-wide initiative to test the feasibility of asset tokenization in financial services.
Project Guardian brought together major financial institutions, technology providers, and regulators to explore tokenized deposits, foreign exchange settlements, and asset management applications. The project’s earlier phase, which included Chainlink, Swift, and UBS, focused on tokenized asset settlement using offchain cash transfers. This established proof of concept for basic functionality.
The current phase represents a significant advancement: full interoperability between traditional messaging systems and blockchain operations. Singapore’s regulatory sandbox approach allowed these experiments to proceed under controlled conditions, gathering real-world data without exposing the broader financial system to untested technology.
Singapore’s $100+ Trillion Opportunity
The global fund industry manages over $100 trillion in assets, with Singapore serving as one of Asia’s premier asset management centers. The city-state hosts over 700 fund managers and manages approximately $4 trillion in assets under management, making it the largest asset management hub in Southeast Asia.
For Singapore’s asset management industry, the Chainlink-Swift integration offers several transformative possibilities:
Operational Efficiency: Traditional fund administration involves multiple intermediaries, manual reconciliation processes, and settlement delays. Tokenized funds using this integration can automate subscription and redemption processes, reduce settlement times from days to near-instantaneous, and eliminate reconciliation discrepancies through shared ledger technology.
Cost Reduction: The asset management industry spends billions annually on middle and back-office operations. Chainlink estimates that corporate action processing alone costs the industry billions in inefficiencies. By automating these processes through smart contracts, Singapore-based fund managers could achieve cost reductions of 30-50% in operational expenses.
Market Access: Singapore’s funds often serve global investors across multiple jurisdictions. Blockchain-based transfer agents can implement programmable compliance, automatically checking investor eligibility, enforcing regulatory restrictions, and generating audit trails. This could significantly reduce the complexity and cost of serving cross-border investors.
24/7 Operations: Unlike traditional financial markets with trading hours and settlement cycles, blockchain infrastructure operates continuously. This aligns perfectly with Singapore’s ambitions to serve global markets across time zones, potentially offering Asian investors access to redemptions and subscriptions outside conventional market hours.
Regulatory Implications for Singapore
MAS’s Progressive Stance
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has established itself as one of the world’s most forward-thinking financial regulators. Unlike jurisdictions that have imposed restrictive frameworks or adopted a wait-and-see approach, MAS has actively facilitated innovation while maintaining robust oversight.
The Chainlink-Swift integration aligns with several key MAS initiatives:
Financial Services and Markets Act 2022: This legislation created a comprehensive framework for digital payment token services, stablecoin regulation, and tokenized securities. The act provides legal clarity for tokenized assets, essential for institutional adoption of solutions like the Chainlink-Swift integration.
Variable Capital Companies (VCC) Framework: Introduced in 2020, the VCC structure allows fund managers to tokenize fund units more easily than traditional structures. Combined with the Chainlink-Swift integration, VCCs could become the preferred vehicle for next-generation fund products.
Digital Asset Custodian Framework: MAS has established licensing requirements for digital asset custodians, ensuring that institutions handling tokenized assets meet stringent security and operational standards. This regulatory infrastructure provides the foundation for banks to confidently adopt blockchain solutions.
Balancing Innovation and Risk
Singapore’s regulatory approach demonstrates sophisticated understanding of blockchain technology’s risks and opportunities:
Technology-Neutral Regulation: Rather than regulating specific technologies, MAS focuses on activities and outcomes. This approach allows innovations like the Chainlink-Swift integration to develop without prescriptive technical requirements that might become obsolete.
Controlled Experimentation: Project Guardian and similar initiatives allow live testing of new technologies under regulatory supervision. This generates empirical evidence about risks and benefits, informing future policy decisions.
International Coordination: Singapore actively participates in international standard-setting bodies, ensuring its approach aligns with global best practices. The use of ISO 20022 in the Chainlink-Swift integration reflects this commitment to international standards.
Impact on Singapore’s Banking Sector
The Big Three: DBS, OCBC, UOB
Singapore’s major banks stand to benefit significantly from frictionless blockchain integration:
DBS Bank, already active in digital asset custody and tokenization platforms, could expand its digital asset services without fragmenting its technology stack. The bank’s existing Swift infrastructure becomes a gateway to blockchain markets, allowing it to offer tokenized asset services to corporate and institutional clients with minimal additional investment.
OCBC and UOB, both exploring tokenization use cases, gain a clear implementation pathway. Rather than choosing between building proprietary blockchain infrastructure or partnering with fintech providers, they can leverage existing Swift connectivity to participate in tokenized markets.
Foreign Banks in Singapore
Singapore hosts numerous international banks using the city-state as their Asian headquarters. For these institutions, the Chainlink-Swift integration offers particular advantages:
Consistency Across Jurisdictions: Global banks operate under varying regulatory regimes. A Swift-based approach to blockchain integration allows them to maintain consistent messaging standards globally while adapting to local blockchain regulations.
Reduced Implementation Risk: Deploying new technology across multiple jurisdictions presents operational and reputational risk. By building on Swift infrastructure present in every location, banks minimize implementation variability and reduce the risk of jurisdiction-specific failures.
Faster Time-to-Market: Asian financial institutions face intense competition from both traditional competitors and fintech disruptors. The ability to launch tokenized asset services quickly could provide significant competitive advantage in capturing market share.
The Broader Digital Asset Ecosystem
Stablecoins and Payment Infrastructure
The recent Swift pilot using Ethereum’s Linea network for stablecoin settlement complements the Chainlink integration, suggesting an emerging architecture for Singapore’s digital financial infrastructure:
Programmable Money: Stablecoins settling on blockchain rails enable programmable payment logic. Fund subscriptions could trigger automatic compliance checks, tax withholdings, and multi-currency settlements within a single atomic transaction.
Reduced Correspondent Banking Costs: Singapore’s role as a regional financial hub depends partly on efficient payment channels. Blockchain-based settlement could reduce the cost and complexity of cross-border payments, strengthening Singapore’s position as a payment intermediary.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Integration: MAS has explored wholesale CBDC through Project Ubin and retail CBDC concepts. The Chainlink-Swift architecture provides a potential integration path for CBDC, allowing central bank money to flow through existing banking channels while leveraging blockchain settlement.
Tokenization Beyond Funds
While the initial focus involves fund tokenization, the infrastructure enables broader applications:
Real Estate: Singapore’s substantial real estate investment trust (REIT) market could benefit from tokenization. Property ownership tokens settling through Swift messaging could democratize access to commercial real estate investment while maintaining regulatory oversight.
Trade Finance: Singapore serves as a major trade finance hub. Tokenized bills of lading, letters of credit, and trade receivables could flow through the same infrastructure, reducing fraud and accelerating transaction settlement.
Supply Chain Finance: Singapore’s port and logistics infrastructure could integrate tokenized supply chain finance. Banks could offer financing against tokenized inventory or receivables with real-time visibility into underlying collateral.
Competitive Landscape and Strategic Positioning
Regional Competition
Singapore faces competition from other Asian financial centers pursuing digital asset leadership:
Hong Kong has aggressively courted crypto companies and announced plans for retail cryptocurrency trading. However, political considerations and integration with mainland China’s more restrictive approach create uncertainty.
Dubai offers tax advantages and has attracted numerous blockchain companies, but lacks Singapore’s established financial infrastructure and regulatory sophistication.
Tokyo possesses deep capital markets but faces regulatory complexity and slower-moving innovation frameworks.
The Chainlink-Swift integration plays to Singapore’s strengths: world-class banking infrastructure, progressive but prudent regulation, and strong relationships with global financial institutions. Rather than competing purely on regulatory leniency or tax treatment, Singapore offers institutional-grade infrastructure that global banks require.
Switzerland and Traditional Finance Integration
Switzerland, particularly through the Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX), has pursued blockchain integration for securities markets. However, SDX required significant new infrastructure development and operates largely separately from traditional markets.
The Chainlink-Swift model offers greater continuity with existing systems, potentially giving Singapore an advantage in attracting institutions hesitant to embrace entirely new market structures.
Implementation Challenges and Considerations
Technical Obstacles
Despite elegant architecture, several technical challenges require attention:
Scalability: While Ethereum Layer 2 solutions like Linea offer improved performance, they still face throughput limitations. Singapore’s financial markets generate enormous transaction volumes. The infrastructure must demonstrate ability to handle peak loads without degradation.
Finality and Settlement: Traditional financial markets have established concepts of settlement finality backed by legal frameworks. Blockchain finality depends on consensus mechanisms that may not align perfectly with legal settlement concepts. Singapore must develop clear legal standards for when blockchain transactions achieve legal finality.
Disaster Recovery: Banks maintain sophisticated disaster recovery capabilities for critical infrastructure. Blockchain-based systems must demonstrate equivalent resilience, including recovery from catastrophic failures, fraud, or system compromises.
Oracle Security: Chainlink’s oracle network brings offchain data onchain. For financial applications, oracle security becomes critical. Malicious or erroneous data fed through oracles could trigger incorrect smart contract executions with significant financial consequences.
Operational Considerations
Banks adopting this technology face operational challenges:
Staff Training: While the integration preserves familiar interfaces, understanding blockchain technology remains important for effective operations and troubleshooting. Singapore’s banks must invest in training programs to build internal blockchain expertise.
Vendor Management: The integration introduces new technology vendors (Chainlink, blockchain infrastructure providers) into banks’ critical service provider ecosystems. Banks must develop capabilities to assess and monitor blockchain service providers effectively.
Incident Management: When things go wrong, banks need clear escalation paths and resolution procedures. The distributed nature of blockchain systems complicates traditional incident management approaches.
Regulatory Gaps
Despite Singapore’s progressive framework, some regulatory questions remain:
Cross-Border Data Flow: Blockchain transactions create data records potentially distributed across multiple jurisdictions. Singapore’s data protection framework must address how personal and financial data moves through distributed networks.
Insolvency and Asset Recovery: If a participant in a tokenized asset system faces insolvency, legal frameworks must clearly establish how assets are recovered and creditors prioritized. Traditional insolvency law may not map cleanly to blockchain-based assets.
Market Manipulation and Surveillance: Regulators monitor traditional markets for manipulation and abuse. Blockchain markets require new surveillance tools and potentially new definitions of manipulative behavior.
Economic Impact Projections
Direct Financial Services Growth
Conservative projections suggest Singapore’s financial services sector could see substantial growth from tokenization adoption:
Asset Management: If 10% of Singapore’s $4 trillion assets under management migrate to tokenized structures over five years, this represents $400 billion in tokenized assets. Assuming 20-30% operational cost savings, this could generate $800 million to $1.2 billion in annual cost reductions, improving profitability and competitiveness.
Banking Services: Banks offering tokenized asset custody, transfer agent services, and settlement could generate new fee revenue. A conservative estimate of 5-10 basis points on tokenized assets could generate $200-400 million in annual revenue from the $400 billion tokenized asset base.
Technology Services: Singapore-based technology providers, infrastructure operators, and professional services firms could capture a significant portion of implementation spending. Global spending on blockchain financial services infrastructure may reach $20-30 billion over the next decade, with Singapore potentially capturing 3-5% of this market.
Indirect Economic Effects
Beyond direct financial services impact, several indirect effects merit consideration:
Talent Attraction: Leadership in blockchain financial services attracts global talent. Singapore already hosts major blockchain companies and development centers; successful implementation of institutional blockchain solutions could accelerate talent inflows.
Startup Ecosystem: Clear infrastructure standards and regulatory frameworks enable startup formation. Singapore could see growth in blockchain fintech startups building applications on the Chainlink-Swift infrastructure, similar to how cloud computing infrastructure enabled the SaaS revolution.
Regional Hub Effects: If Singapore becomes the preferred location for tokenized asset issuance and management in Asia, it could attract issuers, investors, and intermediaries from across the region, generating spillover effects in legal services, accounting, consulting, and related professional services.
Strategic Recommendations
For Singapore Policymakers
Accelerate Regulatory Clarity: While MAS has made significant progress, additional guidance on specific issues (cross-border data, insolvency, market surveillance) would reduce uncertainty and accelerate adoption.
Invest in Public Infrastructure: Consider developing public goods infrastructure such as blockchain explorers, regulatory reporting tools, and interoperability standards that benefit the entire ecosystem.
International Coordination: Lead regional and international efforts to harmonize tokenization standards and regulations. Singapore’s success depends partly on interoperability with other markets.
Education and Workforce Development: Invest in blockchain education programs at universities and professional training institutions to ensure adequate talent supply.
For Financial Institutions
Start Small, Scale Gradually: Begin with pilot programs on non-critical use cases, gather operational experience, then expand to core business activities.
Build Internal Expertise: Develop dedicated teams combining traditional financial services expertise with blockchain technical knowledge.
Collaborate Across Industry: Participate in industry consortia and standardization efforts. Network effects mean individual institutions benefit from broad adoption.
Focus on Client Value: Prioritize use cases that deliver clear client benefits (cost reduction, improved access, better user experience) rather than pursuing blockchain for its own sake.
For Technology Providers
Prioritize Compliance and Security: Financial services applications demand institutional-grade security and regulatory compliance. Technical elegance matters less than operational reliability.
Develop Singapore-Specific Expertise: Understand Singapore’s regulatory requirements, market structure, and business culture. Generic blockchain solutions require localization for successful deployment.
Build for Interoperability: Design solutions that work with the Chainlink-Swift infrastructure and other emerging standards rather than creating proprietary, closed systems.
Long-Term Vision: Singapore in 2030
Projecting forward, successful implementation of blockchain integration could transform Singapore’s financial landscape:
Seamless Multi-Asset Platform: Singapore could operate a unified infrastructure where traditional securities, tokenized assets, digital currencies, and derivatives settle through interoperable systems, with Swift messaging as a common language.
24/7 Global Markets: Asian investors could access global investment opportunities around the clock, with instant settlement and programmable compliance, positioning Singapore as the gateway between East and West.
Programmable Regulation: Regulatory requirements could be encoded into smart contracts, enabling automatic compliance while reducing regulatory burden. “RegTech” becomes embedded in infrastructure rather than bolted on afterward.
Reduced Barriers to Entry: Smaller asset managers, family offices, and emerging investment firms could access institutional-grade infrastructure without massive upfront investment, democratizing financial services while maintaining high standards.
Climate Finance Integration: Tokenized carbon credits, green bonds, and sustainable investment vehicles could settle through the same infrastructure, supporting Singapore’s sustainable finance ambitions.
Conclusion
The Chainlink-Swift blockchain integration represents more than a technical achievement. It embodies a philosophy of evolution rather than revolution in financial services infrastructure. By preserving familiar interfaces while enabling blockchain functionality, it addresses the primary barrier to institutional adoption: the need to maintain operational continuity while embracing innovation.
For Singapore, this development arrives at an opportune moment. The city-state has invested years in building regulatory frameworks, industry relationships, and technical expertise in digital assets. The infrastructure now emerging allows Singapore to translate this groundwork into concrete economic value.
Success is not guaranteed. Technical challenges, regulatory complexities, and competitive pressures require sustained attention. However, Singapore’s track record of balancing innovation and stability, its world-class financial infrastructure, and its strategic geographic position place it exceptionally well to lead the global transition to blockchain-integrated financial services.
The next five years will determine whether blockchain technology transforms from a promising experiment into core financial infrastructure. Singapore’s approach—pragmatic, collaborative, and grounded in solving real business problems—offers a compelling model for how this transformation might succeed. The Chainlink-Swift integration provides the technical foundation; Singapore’s challenge now is to build the ecosystem, talent base, and regulatory clarity needed to fully realize its potential.
Maxthon
In an age where the digital world is in constant flux and our interactions online are ever-evolving, the importance of prioritising individuals as they navigate the expansive internet cannot be overstated. The myriad of elements that shape our online experiences calls for a thoughtful approach to selecting web browsers—one that places a premium on security and user privacy. Amidst the multitude of browsers vying for users’ loyalty, Maxthon emerges as a standout choice, providing a trustworthy solution to these pressing concerns, all without any cost to the user.
Maxthon, with its advanced features, boasts a comprehensive suite of built-in tools designed to enhance your online privacy. Among these tools are a highly effective ad blocker and a range of anti-tracking mechanisms, each meticulously crafted to fortify your digital sanctuary. This browser has carved out a niche for itself, particularly with its seamless compatibility with Windows 11, further solidifying its reputation in an increasingly competitive market.
In a crowded landscape of web browsers, Maxthon has forged a distinct identity through its unwavering dedication to offering a secure and private browsing experience. Fully aware of the myriad threats lurking in the vast expanse of cyberspace, Maxthon works tirelessly to safeguard your personal information. Utilizing state-of-the-art encryption technology, it ensures that your sensitive data remains protected and confidential throughout your online adventures.
What truly sets Maxthon apart is its commitment to enhancing user privacy during every moment spent online. Each feature of this browser has been meticulously designed with the user’s privacy in mind. Its powerful ad-blocking capabilities work diligently to eliminate unwanted advertisements, while its comprehensive anti-tracking measures effectively reduce the presence of invasive scripts that could disrupt your browsing enjoyment. As a result, users can traverse the web with newfound confidence and safety.
Moreover, Maxthon’s incognito mode provides an extra layer of security, granting users enhanced anonymity while engaging in their online pursuits. This specialised mode not only conceals your browsing habits but also ensures that your digital footprint remains minimal, allowing for an unobtrusive and liberating internet experience. With Maxthon as your ally in the digital realm, you can explore the vastness of the internet with peace of mind, knowing that your privacy is being prioritised every step of the way.