SWIFT, the global financial messaging network connecting over 11,500 banks, has announced plans to build a shared ledger platform for settling stablecoin and tokenized asset transactions across multiple blockchains. This marks a fundamental shift from its traditional role of sending messages to directly facilitating value transfer, enabling instant, 24/7 cross-border payments.
Over 30 financial institutions are already engaged with the project, which aims to lower technical barriers and integration costs for banks adopting blockchain technology. SWIFT has been testing distributed ledger technology since 2017, conducting pilots with Chainlink, Clearstream, SETL, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized the announcement as a marketing play timed for SWIFT's Sibos conference, contrasting it with Ripple's 13 years of building real digital asset infrastructure, including the recent launch of RLUSD, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Industry experts like David Duong of Coinbase called it a watershed moment, while others raised concerns about fragmentation and SWIFT's role in enforcing sanctions, which could limit its ability to reduce payment system divides.
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