The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) named London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) as the winner of its Global vLEI Hackathon in the Digital Asset and Financial Infrastructure category.
LSEG won the prize after its project was picked from 110 entries from teams around the world. Its solution showed how the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and verifiable LEI (vLEI) can help check who a company is before it takes part in a digital transaction.
Congratulations to London Stock Exchange Group for winning the @GLEIF vLEI Hackathon at SmartCon, and to Clearstream for securing the runner-up spot.https://t.co/ZjHamX6ZN4
Sponsored by Swift (@swiftcommunity) and Chainlink, the hackathon was held during SmartCon’s exclusive… pic.twitter.com/bok91J3UoV
— Chainlink (@chainlink) November 4, 2025
How vLEI can help crypto firms
An LEI is a unique code used to identify a company involved in a financial transaction. A vLEI takes this idea further by creating a digital credential that can prove a company’s identity and the role of a person acting for that company.
This can be useful in crypto because many transactions happen between wallets and smart contracts rather than through a bank. It can be hard for another company or a regulator to know who is behind a wallet.
LSEG’s winning project showed how vLEI credentials could be linked with smart contracts, liquidity checks and regulatory reports. The system can help check a company’s identity and authority while a transaction is taking place.
That could make some crypto transactions easier to check. It could also reduce the need for firms to send the same identity documents to different companies.
Clearstream was named runner-up. Its project used vLEI as a secure login method for ClearstreamXact, showing that the technology can also be used to control access to financial systems.
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vLEI work moves into the crypto market
The LSEG win was not the end of GLEIF’s work with blockchain firms. In October 2025, GLEIF and Chainlink announced a partnership to bring vLEI-based identity to blockchains.
The two groups are working on a system that can link real-world companies to on-chain wallets, smart contracts and tokenized assets. Chainlink’s technology can then help apps check that information across different blockchains.
This matters because banks and other large firms need to know who they are dealing with before they can use many digital-asset products. A trusted digital ID could help them meet know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering rules without relying only on manual checks.
The idea is also moving beyond the hackathon. In March 2026, GLEIF updated its vLEI rules and technical standards, showing that the system is still being developed.
GLEIF has also continued work with other blockchain groups. Its latest materials list projects involving Chainlink, Cardano and other networks that aim to connect company identities with digital assets.
For crypto markets, the basic idea is simple: a blockchain can show what happened, while a vLEI can help show who was involved. If these systems work at scale, they could make it easier for banks, regulators and businesses to use blockchain without giving up basic identity and compliance checks.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Börse Market Data + Services has also announced a partnership with Chainlink to bring real-time market data from Eurex, Xetra and Tradegate on-chain.
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