SWIFT Blockchain Ledger Nears Launch with Real-World Transactions

SWIFT, the messaging backbone connecting thousands of financial institutions globally, has made significant progress in developing a blockchain-based shared ledger. This infrastructure layer is built on Linea, an Ethereum layer-2 network developed by ConsenSys.

The shared ledger records and validates transactions between financial institutions using smart contracts, allowing for tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies to move across institutions in real time. This process collapses the traditional cross-border payment process, which involves multiple intermediaries and generates significant reconciliation overhead.

More than 30 global financial institutions, including JPMorgan, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America, have contributed to the design phase, shaping the ledger's functionality, governance model, and future development roadmap. The MVP is set to go live with real transactions later this year.