SWIFT Blockchain Ledger Launching Soon, 17 Institutions to Pilot Tokenised Deposit Cross-Border Transactions

Odaily Odaily Planet Daily reports that the international banking communication organization SWIFT has announced that its distributed ledger technology based on blockchain is ready to enter the initial application phase. A total of 17 global financial institutions will act as early adopters to test real-time transactions based on Tokenised Deposits.

SWIFT stated that since announcing plans to integrate a blockchain ledger into its technology framework at the 2025 Sibos conference, it has taken only 9 months to progress from concept design to initial deployment. This project aims to help financial institutions explore applications of digital assets and new forms of digital value on top of their existing trusted, secure, and global infrastructure.

This first use case focuses on improving the efficiency of cross-border payments. As businesses and consumers increasingly demand 24/7 financial services, traditional payment systems are constrained by time zones and business hours. The SWIFT ledger will provide participating banks with a secure coordination layer, enabling banks to use tokenised deposits issued on their own ledgers to facilitate fund transfers around the clock, before final settlement via existing clearing systems.

SWIFT explained that Tokenised Deposits were chosen as the initial pilot direction because they represent a regulated, digital form of commercial bank money. This approach can improve customer experience and liquidity management efficiency without altering existing compliance, credit risk, and control frameworks.