SWIFT has made its blockchain-based ledger ready for initial use, allowing early-adopter financial institutions to pilot 24/7 cross-border payments using tokenised deposits. The new shared ledger is positioned as an orchestration layer for bank-issued tokenised deposits held on participating banks’ own ledgers, enabling customer funds to move outside normal operating hours before final settlement is completed through existing payment systems. Seventeen banks from six continents are preparing to test live transactions, including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, HSBC, MUFG Bank, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB and Wells Fargo. SWIFT said the setup is designed to improve payment availability, client experience and liquidity efficiency while preserving the compliance, credit, risk and control standards embedded in current processing. The launch is the first use case for the ledger that SWIFT unveiled last year and built with input from international financial institutions over nine months. After the initial controlled go-live phase, the ledger is expected to expand in functionality and availability. SWIFT also framed the platform as a base for further regulated digital asset use cases, including programmable money and agentic commerce.
SWIFT2026-07-09
SWIFT activates blockchain-based ledger as 17 banks prepare live tokenised deposit payment pilots
SWIFT has made its blockchain-based ledger available for initial use, with 17 banks preparing to pilot live cross-border payments using tokenised deposits. The platform supports 24/7 fund movement as an orchestration layer while final settlement continues through existing systems. SWIFT said the ledger will be expanded after the initial controlled go-live phase.