Swift says it will introduce a blockchain-based shared ledger into its technology infrastructure, an important move in the development of global cross-border payments. This project will help maintain the integrity, compliance, and resiliency that the current Swift network is built on, while maintaining real-time 24/7 transactions.
As part of a global banking group, ANZ is working with us to help build a blockchain-based ledger for seamless and secure movement of value across borders.
Through industry collaboration, we are extending Swift’s infrastructure to power and deliver today’s rails… pic.twitter.com/kkrvKUHMyp
— Swift (@swiftcommunity) February 27, 2026
The announcement was made at SWIFT’s annual conference Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt. The new ledger will not replace Swift, but will complement existing messaging and interoperability services to form a hybrid model between traditional finance and the new digital asset ecosystem.
Announcement at Sibos 2025 signals strategic shift
Swift CEO Javier Pérez Tasso said in his opening remarks at the conference that the move will be surprising for some market segments. However, he pointed out that blockchain and legacy financial infrastructure need not be mutually exclusive.
Perez-Tasso suggests that future managed financial systems will require trusted institutions to back up tokenized value, and that banks are receiving further calls from Swift to become more involved. He explained that the new ledger will facilitate the trusted transfer of digital value across an unlimited ecosystem without compromising regulatory controls or operational excellence.
Designing a shared digital ledger
Swift is also working with a group of more than 30 international financial institutions to develop this ledger. Initial applications include 24/7 real-time cross-border interbank payments, addressing historic issues of settlement speed, transparency, and liquidity management.
The first stage is a conceptual prototype, built using Consensys. Ledger documents, numbers, and validates transactions and uses smart contracts to implement established policies. Swift said the principle of interoperability is still part of the design, as the ledger can connect to current correspondent banking rails and new blockchain networks in the future.
Combine blockchain with your existing Swift infrastructure
Rather than working on its own, the shared ledger will be part of Swift’s current messaging services, APIs, and ISO 20022 standards. This approach allows compliance checks, risk management, and governance requirements to be integrated from the beginning of the transaction flow.
Swift believes this multi-layered innovation model will improve the predictability and efficiency of cross-border payments and enable banks to offer tokenized money and assets in a trusted global system. The organization emphasized that the system’s pillars of resilience, scalability, and security remain intact.
Broad industry participation by global banks
Sixteen countries are already involved in the design and governance of the ledger through their financial institutions. Participating banks include Bank of America, BNP Paribas, HSBC, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Citi, Standard Chartered, Wells Fargo, BBVA, ANZ and more.
Many executives emphasized the value of collaboration, saying that no single institution can modernize global payments alone. Common standards and interoperability within currency blocs, as well as the need for infrastructure to process regulated digital assets at scale, were frequently mentioned.
Focus on compliance, governance and scale
Swift reiterated several times that the project focuses on regulatory compliance and governance. The common ledger is designed in a way that meets global regulatory requirements so that it can support tokenized value without compromising financial stability or reliability.
By developing the ledger as an industry-governed platform, Swift can facilitate widespread usage without fragmentation across different blockchain systems. The organization believes this strategy will bring uniform digital money and payment standards to the financial sector.
Looking to the future of payments
The blockchain-on-ledger foundation builds on already established digital asset trials and Swift interoperability efforts across both public and private networks. Swift also builds solutions for clients with a ledger that allows value to flow smoothly between traditional accounts, tokenized assets, and blockchain-based systems.
