Swift activates blockchain ledger with 17-bank pilot for tokenized payments
RWA & Tokenization ·
The financial messaging cooperative has switched on a blockchain-based registry aimed at streamlining cross-border settlement, with 17 banks joining an initial trial run.
Swift, the member-owned network that connects roughly 11,000 institutions worldwide for financial messaging, has begun testing tokenized deposits on a shared ledger designed to let banks settle cross-border transactions with less friction, according to a Businesswire report. The pilot involves 17 banks participating in early tests of the new registry, which is intended to record tokenized deposits and support settlement processes tied to cross-border payments.
The move fits into a broader pattern of Swift experimentation with blockchain rails rather than a wholesale replacement of its existing messaging infrastructure. Swift has historically functioned as a communications layer between banks rather than a settlement system itself, meaning the actual movement of funds still occurs through correspondent banking relationships even as message formats and standards evolve. The new ledger effort represents an attempt to give that messaging layer a blockchain-based companion for recording and tracking tokenized value.
This pilot arrives alongside other signals that Swift is deepening its blockchain ties. Separate reporting has indicated that Swift is on track to bring more than 25 banks live by June on a blockchain-based system enabling 24/7 cross-border payments, suggesting the 17-bank tokenized deposit pilot may be one strand of a larger rollout timeline. Additional coverage has also described a newer cross-border payments framework with more than 50 banks onboard, aimed at improving cost transparency and settlement speed for retail transfers, and infrastructure work pairing Swift with Chainlink to unify legacy banking systems with onchain networks.
Other developments point to stablecoins and tokenized rails increasingly intersecting with Swift's traditional messaging role. Thunes has reportedly extended stablecoin payout capability across 11,500 banks using Swift connectivity, while AWS has open-sourced architecture linking Swift's ISO 20022 messaging standard to onchain settlement through Chainlink. Separately, MoonPay has introduced fiat-to-stablecoin virtual accounts in New York that route ACH and Swift-based inflows to non-custodial wallets.
What remains unclear is how the 17-bank tokenized deposit pilot relates operationally to the larger 25-bank and 50-bank initiatives described in parallel reporting, and whether these efforts will converge into a single production system or continue as separate tracks. Also unresolved is the specific timeline for expanding the tokenized deposit registry beyond its initial participant banks, and how settlement finality on the new ledger will interact with existing correspondent banking arrangements.