SWIFT – which connects 15,000 financial institutions worldwide – has announced that its blockchain DLT is going live with 17 partner institutions (ANZ; BNP Paribas; BNY; Citi; DBS; First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB); FirstRand Bank Limited; HSBC; Itaú Unibanco; Lloyds Bank; Mashreq; MUFG Bank; OCBC; Standard Chartered; UBS; UOB and Wells Fargo). These institutions will be able to process cross-border payments using tokenised deposits and carry out transfers in real time at any time of the day or night.
Reported by Consejeros Editorial Team
SWIFT – the network connecting 15,000 financial institutions worldwide – announces that its blockchain DLT is going live with 17 partner financial institutions (ANZ; BNP Paribas; BNY; Citi; DBS; First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB); FirstRand Bank Limited; HSBC; Itaú Unibanco; Lloyds Bank; Mashreq; MUFG Bank; OCBC; Standard Chartered; UBS; UOB and Wells Fargo). These institutions will be able to process cross-border payments using tokenised deposits and carry out transfers in real time any day, at any time.
Although it is referred to as the “Swift blockchain”, technically the system is built on Hyperledger Besu (an open-source framework compatible with the Ethereum network).
How does it work? The system does not immediately replace traditional accounts. Tokenised deposits are issued on each bank’s own internal blockchains. The SWIFT network acts by coordinating, recording and validating payment commitments between institutions in real time, 24/7.
Decoupled settlement: This allows customers’ funds to be moved instantly (even at weekends or in the early hours of the morning), whilst final interbank settlement can be completed later via traditional channels (such as RTGS systems) when the markets open.
With this move, the traditional banking sector demonstrates that it does not need to shift its operations to native crypto networks or rely on third parties to deliver the speed, availability and programmability of Web3 technology.
