The Swift Group has announced plans to integrate a blockchain-based shared ledger into its technology infrastructure, which may mark the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of international finance. The initiative could lead to a heightened level of speed, transparency, and efficiency in cross-border payments, providing unprecedented levels of speed, transparency, and efficiency.
With this decision, Swift is making a major step toward the development of instant, always-on international transactions at an unprecedented scale that has never been possible before in traditional banking systems. This ledger has already been developed in collaboration with over thirty leading financial institutions around the world, and it was designed with the goal of allowing cross-border payments to be made in real time and 24/7.
It is the intention of the team to work with Consensys to develop the first conceptual prototype, and phase one of the process will be to finalise it and plan out the subsequent stages of implementation. At an era when the growing influence of cryptocurrency advocates in boardrooms is reshaping the contours of modern finance, this move comes at an exciting time.
A number of organisations in the United States, such as the National Centre for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), are actively urging technology giants, such as Amazon and Microsoft, to diversify their asset portfolios by investing in Bitcoin, a currency that has seen a massive rise in value in the past year. Nevertheless, despite this growing enthusiasm, financial policymakers and corporate treasurers remain sceptical about Bitcoin.
There has been a lot of discussion about blockchain technology, as a promising technology for payment systems, but Nash Aggarwal, Associate Director of Policy and Technical at the Association of Corporate Treasurers, noted that although it has the potential to revolutionise the payment systems of large corporations, they generally avoid exposure to it because it is volatile and unpredictable.
According to Aggarwal, corporate treasurers' priority remains security, liquidity, and yield - three core principles where cryptocurrencies often fail to meet these standards.
It is fair to say that for most treasurers, managing a volatile asset portfolio like cryptocurrencies simply isn't feasible, since boards expect their investments to be stable, liquid, and able to generate reliable returns, and that's not the case at all."
It is evident that global finance is currently faced with two parallel realities: while blockchain technology has become increasingly accepted by institutions as a foundation for more efficient financial institutions, cryptocurrencies continue to occupy a niche on the market that is speculative and highly risky. It is also a pressing need to address the mounting costs and inefficiencies of conventional payment methods, which are driving a growing interest in blockchain adoption across global finance.
It is estimated that financial institutions will suffer an average loss of $6 million per data breach by the year 2024, nearly 22% more than the global average in data breaches. In recent years, legacy systems have become lucrative honeypots for cybercriminals, offering a single point of failure that can be difficult to detect and contain for a long period of time. They are centralised and interconnected via complex networks, making them lucrative targets for cybercriminals.
Traditional payment infrastructures are not only vulnerable to cyberattacks, but they also suffer from operational fragmentation in addition to their vulnerability to cyberattacks. The outdated framework relies on several independent databases and manual processes, which results in errors, chargebacks, and delayed settlements as transactions pass through multiple intermediaries that add friction, expense, and risk.
Blockchain technology, however, provides a clear solution to these inefficiencies.
There is no intermediary necessary and a significant reduction of the attack surface for hackers, since the data is cryptographically secured across a decentralised network, unlike centralised systems. With this architecture, security is integrated into the very foundation of the system instead of being treated as an extra layer, resulting in a transparent record of each and every transaction that is tamper-resistant and transparent.
Blockchain has already demonstrated its real-world potential in modern platforms such as NOWPayments. NowPayments gives businesses of all sizes the ability to accept over 300 digital and fiat currencies, including stablecoins like USDT and USDC, at a fee as low as 0.5%, which stands in stark contrast to traditional processors' transaction fees, which usually range between 4–6%.
By showing how blockchain can reduce costs but also improve transparency and accessibility in global commerce, the model exemplifies the power of blockchain.
There is a broader technological revolution underlying blockchain's expanding footprint that transcends financial services.
It is estimated that by 202,5 there will be more than 1,000 active blockchains, spanning public, private, consortium, and permissioned networks, resulting in innovative solutions far beyond finance into healthcare, logistics, and governance. However, the most profound transformation that has occurred in this sector is in the financial sector.
In a time when the financial industry is faced with rising cybercrime losses related to crypto crime that topped $2.1 billion in the first half of 2025 alone, financial institutions increasingly rely on blockchain technology both as a shield and a strategic enabler. There are, however, some industry leaders who argue that blockchain’s value does not just end with security; rather, it represents a blueprint for a completely new type of financial architecture, one that is characterised by resilience, speed, and an entirely different kind of trust model.
A decisive step has been taken by Swift to secure its dominance in international finance by embracing technology that once threatened to disrupt it in order to retain its dominance. To achieve the goal of enabling instant, round-the-clock cross-border transactions based on a blockchain-based ledger, the institution has embarked on an ambitious project that aims to transform the traditional settlement process of one to five business days into a real-time, round-the-clock process.
As Swift works to eliminate longstanding bottlenecks caused by a wide range of banking hours, time zones, and regulatory hurdles, it is aiming to make a significant contribution to the advancement of financial infrastructure in the future. The organisation is partnering with over 30 of the world's largest financial institutions, including Bank of America and Citigroup, to develop a digital ledger. Consensys is being tasked with developing the first prototype of the system.
It is no secret that Swift is one of the most influential firms in global finance.
Over 11,500 institutions, which span more than 200 countries, depend on their network for payment processing, making their network a vital part of international commerce. The adoption of blockchain technology by the traditional banking sector is a significant step forward for the industry, which has long been criticised for being dependent on outdated technologies.
Decentralised technologies are increasingly becoming a vital part of legacy finance and are no longer just experimental; they are essential to future competitiveness, as highlighted by the move. This urgency has only been increased by the rise of stablecoins, digital tokens that are pegged to fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar.
This asset offers the same core functions as currency exchange, with the added advantage that it settles almost instantly, charges a minimal fee, and is available globally without interruption.
Since the Genesis Act, which established regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the United States, has been enacted, financial institutions have begun to enter the blockchain space with renewed confidence in the process. In response to this wave of adoption, financial consortia have been formed to handle the needs of these consortia.
The U.S. banking industry is reportedly collaborating with a coalition of banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, to create a stablecoin that is backed by the dollar, whereas major European banks, including ING and UniCredit, have recently announced plans to launch their own euro-pegged counterpart.
In addition to its own blockchain-inspired initiatives, JPMorgan is now introducing a proprietary deposit token and a private digital ledger tailored specifically for institutional clients, as well.
McKinsey analysts describe stablecoins as a direct challenge to the established payment rails that have been the backbone of global finance for centuries. This has prompted banks like Swift to innovate rather than risk obsolescence.
While they are making good progress, they are hindered by a cautious pace of regulation and risk management that constrains their progress.
However, time may be an important factor to consider - Citigroup recently estimated that by the year 2030, stablecoins will have a transaction volume of more than $100 trillion.
This suggests that the evolution of payments may progress with or without the institutions which built the financial world as we know it, whether they are still around or not. A market report by Grand View Research shows that the global blockchain market will increase rapidly by 2030, and that by 2024 it will reach $390 billion.
Blockchain technology paired with artificial intelligence-driven analytics is changing the way payments are handled, delivering real-time fraud detection, instant settlements, transparent transactions, and substantial cost savings for technology and financial leaders alike. According to McKinsey experts, tokenisation is bringing new dimensions of financial innovation by increasing transparency, liquidity, and automation, as well as creating new revenue streams for financial companies.
Although adoption has picked up a bit over the past couple of years, it still remains uneven. Some institutions are relying on inefficient legacy systems, while early adopters are already building the digital equivalent of a financial hyperloop - fast, secure and borderless. Currently, the real issue for businesses is not whether to embrace crypto innovation, but rather how quickly they can move to the new payment systems that will shape the future of global finance, according to Lifshits.
A steady shift toward decentralisation in global finance is making it less and less likely for blockchain to be integrated into mainstream payment systems than ever before. To get to this point, however, it will take a delicate balance between innovation and governance. In order for Swift to succeed in the future, it will need to be able to modernise legacy infrastructure while maintaining the high level of reliability that has long underpinned the trust of global financial institutions.
For businesses to adopt blockchain in a sustainable way, strategic collaboration between regulators, banks, and technology providers will be key to ensuring interoperability, transparency, and consumer protection, all of which are cornerstones of blockchain adoption. As a competitive imperative, embracing blockchain is more than just a technological upgrade for a business.
It opens up a flood of operational agility, cost-optimisation, and data-driven insight at a much wider scale.
In addition to streamlining their payment ecosystems, institutions that act early will also be positioned as architects of the next financial paradigm-one defined by efficiency, inclusivity, and global one defined by efficiency, inclusivity, and global accessibility. Despite its rapid growth in this evolving landscape, blockchain is not only a disruptive force. It is a unifying foundation for tomorrow's borderless, intelligent, and trust-driven economy.
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