Putting Credit Ratings On-Chain: A New Infrastructure for Trust?
In June 2025, Moody’s took another quiet but significant step into the blockchain space: they issued a live credit rating on a tokenised municipal bond, placing that rating directly onto the Solana blockchain. Working with Alphaledger, this was not just a pilot - it was a functioning credit assessment delivered through blockchain infrastructure, readable and actionable by smart contracts in real time.
Moody’s had analysed this field in 2023, but this move presents the agency’s opening gambit. It signals Moody’s intent to explore blockchain not just as a data feed but as a delivery system for creditworthiness itself. This is not just about technical integration, it is about whether creditworthiness can be translated into programmable trust.
What Are On-Chain Credit Ratings?
Traditional credit ratings exist as reports and data feeds that humans interpret. On-chain credit ratings exist as blockchain data that smart contracts consume directly. When Moody’s rated the municipal bond on Solana, they embedded their assessment into the same infrastructure where automated financial decisions happen.
A tokenised bond can now have its credit rating updated in real-time on the blockchain where it trades, theoretically. Smart contracts governing lending protocols can potentially and automatically adjust terms based on rating changes. The rating would become part of the asset’s digital DNA rather than external commentary.
This infrastructure may become essential as real-world assets migrate onto blockchains. Tokenised municipal bonds, corporate debt, and complex financial products will all need creditworthiness assessments that blockchain protocols can understand and act upon.
Why This Matters
The scale makes this urgent. Boston Consulting Group projected tokenised real-world assets would reach $16-19 trillion by 2030, although other predictions are more conservative. Nevertheless, there could be trillions in assets needing credit assessment infrastructure that traditional rating agencies have never had to provide. The question is whether that infrastructure will extend existing systems or create entirely new ones.
“A tokenised bond can now have its credit rating updated in real-time on the blockchain where it trades, theoretically.”
Consider MakerDAO’s evolution. Their DAI stablecoin now includes real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries and real estate loans as collateral. The protocol tracks these assets on-chain, but assessing their credit quality requires off-chain analysis translated into on-chain parameters. The rating could become a bridge between different information environments.
Brand Power vs Technical Functionality
Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch built their authority through consistent methodology, regulatory relationships, and institutional trust. That brand equity represents real economic value - pension funds can invest in their rated instruments because regulators recognise those ratings, for example.
But on-chain environments might not care about brand equity the same way. When smart contracts need to liquidate collateral or adjust lending terms, they need machine-readable data that is frequently updated and integrated with blockchain infrastructure. The question is whether traditional agencies can provide that functionality fast enough.
Credora focuses on real-time credit analytics for crypto lending using on-chain data. Xangle provides crypto asset ratings designed for digital-native investors. These are not replicating Moody’s methodology – they are building credit assessment tools specifically for blockchain environments.
The Solana Foundation positions their blockchain as ideal for ‘institutional-grade applications’ because of technical capabilities like high throughput and low costs. The implication: institutional adoption depends on infrastructure that can handle scale, not just familiar brands.
Neither Fitch nor S&P has announced similar on-chain rating pilots, though both research tokenisation actively. Their absence from early experimentation might indicate caution - or different approaches to the same challenge.
Signal and Noise
Credit ratings traditionally reduce noise by converting complex financial information into simple signals. Yet, blockchain environments generate different noise that traditional methodologies were not designed to handle.
On-chain data provides unprecedented transparency into asset movements and transaction patterns, but also creates information overload. A tokenised real estate fund might have perfect transaction records, but what do those tell you about underlying property values or local market conditions? The blockchain provides the signal; interpretation still requires human judgment.
“On-chain ratings might trigger financial decisions at speeds that make traditional oversight impossible”
Centrifuge exemplifies this challenge with supply chain financing and invoice tokenization. They are making credit assessment more transparent and automated, but ensuring automation does not sacrifice accuracy for speed remains difficult.
This creates tension between ratings that are human-interpretable versus machine-actionable. Traditional agencies excel at the former; blockchain-native systems target the latter. Companies that master both might define credit assessment in tokenised markets.
Open Questions
Will established agencies maintain dominance by adapting to blockchain infrastructure, or will technical advantages favour new on-chain players? The Moody’s pilot suggests traditional agencies take this seriously, but one experiment does not determine market structure.
How do regulators evaluate machine-readable risk data that updates in real-time and triggers automated decisions? Traditional oversight assumes human decision-makers interpreting reports. On-chain ratings might trigger financial decisions at speeds that make traditional oversight impossible.
What happens when an on-chain rating is disputed? Traditional ratings can be revised through established appeals processes. Blockchain records are immutable by design. The infrastructure for handling rating disputes in decentralised systems does not exist yet.
How do you verify off-chain assets backing on-chain tokens when the rating system itself lives on-chain? This creates verification loops that traditional agencies solved through direct issuer relationships and private financial access. Blockchain systems might need entirely different due diligence approaches.
These are not just technical questions – they are about market structure, regulatory frameworks, and institutional trust. We are early in this conversation, and those who help shape it will likely determine how credit assessment works for the next generation of financial infrastructure.
The Moody’s municipal bond pilot was small, but significant: a traditional institution testing whether their core function works in a fundamentally different technological environment. Whether they succeed, and who joins this experimentation, will shape how we think about credit, trust, and financial infrastructure in an increasingly tokenised world.
For those working on tokenisation infrastructure or credit assessment frameworks, I’m tracking these developments closely through my work at CRRI. The intersection of traditional finance and blockchain governance raises questions that deserve serious analysis - not just from technologists, but from those who understand how trust and risk assessment actually function in complex financial systems.
Connect with me on LinkedIn if you’re exploring similar questions, or follow my analysis here on my website.