Swift today announced that its blockchain-based ledger is ready for initial use, enabling early adopter financial institutions to support 24/7 cross-border  payments with tokenised deposits — and marking a decisive step in scaling the benefits  of digital value across the regulated global financial system. 

Seventeen banks from six continents are preparing to pilot live transactions, reflecting  strong global demand for the new addition to Swift’s technology stack and its ability to  unlock faster, flexible money movement across the world. 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. Banks  benefit from improved client experience and global liquidity efficiency without  compromising compliance, credit, risk and control standards embedded in existing  payment processing. 

It’s the first use case for the ledger, which Swift announced last year and designed and  built with feedback from international financial institutions in just nine months. The  development sets the stage for next generation innovation and interoperability on infrastructure already trusted to move the equivalent of world GDP every two to three days  between more than 200 markets and with a record for sustaining the highest levels of  operational excellence. 

Thierry Chilosi, Chief Business Officer at Swift, said: “With our new ledger capability,  we’re extending the trust and stability of established finance into the frontiers of digital  money. It allows tokenised value to move across borders with the velocity and flexibility  modern commerce expects, while maintaining the same high levels of resiliency, security,  and compliance global finance requires. The strong support from banks shows the  practical value of this approach — one that will help scale benefits globally while creating  a foundation for future innovation in areas like programmable money and agentic commerce.”