SWIFT Unveils Blockchain Ledger For Global Banks

Nine Months From Concept to Live Infrastructure

SWIFT has declared its blockchain-based shared ledger ready for initial use, completing the move from announcement to working infrastructure in roughly nine months. The Belgium-based cooperative first unveiled plans for the ledger at the Sibos conference in Frankfurt in September 2025, completed its design phase in March 2026, and has now opened the platform to early adopter banks.

Seventeen banks from six continents are now preparing to pilot live transactions using tokenised deposits, enabling 24/7 cross-border payments on SWIFT's global infrastructure. The full pilot group spans institutions including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand Bank, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq, MUFG Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB, and Wells Fargo.

It is the first use case for the ledger, which SWIFT designed and built with feedback from international financial institutions in just nine months.

How the Ledger Works, and What Changes for Banks

The shared ledger provides participating banks with a secure orchestration layer for bank-issued tokenised deposits on their own ledgers, enabling them to move funds for customers, including overnight and on weekends, before completing final settlement through existing systems. Critically, banks benefit from improved client experience and global liquidity efficiency without compromising compliance, credit, risk and control standards embedded in existing payment processing.

Tokenized deposits are issued on the banks' own ledgers, and the shared ledger records and validates the banks' payment commitments to one another, allowing client funds to move around the clock. Interbank settlement between the payer and payee banks happens separately through conventional channels such as RTGS systems or correspondent banking relationships. The platform is therefore an addition to SWIFT's existing infrastructure, not a replacement for it.

The ledger MVP is being built on open-source foundations, using an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible architecture based on Hyperledger Besu.

SWIFT has indicated it plans to expand functionality after the initial controlled rollout, working in parallel with banks internationally to define a roadmap of future functionality, including the exploration of other on-chain settlement assets and use cases to accelerate the industry's transition to digital finance across more than 200 countries and territories.

SWIFT Official Press Release: Blockchain Ledger Ready for Use, July 9, 2026 | Ledger Insights: Citi, HSBC, UBS Among 17 Banks to Pilot Tokenized Deposits via SWIFT Blockchain | SWIFT: Blockchain-Based Shared Ledger Progresses to MVP Implementation, March 30, 2026