Swift is moving from planning to construction on its blockchain-based shared ledger, with the cooperative aiming to run real transactions through the minimum viable product version (MVP) of the system before the end of this year. The ledger’s initial purpose is to enable banks to make cross border payments around the clock using tokenized deposits.
More than 40 financial institutions have been involved in developing the design, a larger group than the 30 originally named when Swift unveiled the distributed ledger project at its Sibos conference in Frankfurt in September 2025.
Rather than displacing existing payment infrastructure, the ledger adds an orchestration layer on top of it. When banks make payments, the ledger records and validates their commitments to one another, providing a shared view of where transactions stand. A key feature of multi bank tokenized deposit systems is they involve a two step process. One is the movement of funds for clients as described, and the other is the settlement between the payer and payee banks. This second step will initially happen in a conventional manner, such as via RTGS systems or correspondent banking relationships. But other routes can be agreed between parties.
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