The SWIFT network will begin trials for integrating digital assets and blockchain networks to aid institutions in better indulging in cryptocurrency and blockchain use cases.
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), the widely-used cross-border settlement network, will begin its digital asset trials in 2025, with central and commercial banks across North America, Europe, and Asia participating. An October 3 announcement noted the network would test digital asset transactions and try out transactions with other asset types over blockchain technology.
Banks can participate in its “expansive pilots” that will “facilitate the flow of all kinds of value between more than four billion accounts across 200 countries and territories.” SWIFT’s trials will provide financial institutions access to numerous “digital asset classes and currencies” from a unified experience, making the fractured digital asset experience convenient. As many blockchains exist with varying standards and thousands of tokens, SWIFT will try to offer the multichain experience most Web3 platforms innovate on.
With the crypto industry growing to new levels every year and projected to take on an explosive trajectory in the future, an easier way to interact with the assets will drive adoption up. SWIFT mentioned how the industry’s rapid growth thus far has created “digital islands,” presenting “a significant barrier to global adoption.”
“Swift’s trials will leverage its unique position at the heart of the financial system to interlink these disparate networks with each other as well as with existing fiat currencies,” the announcement further read. Resultingly, SWIFT will offer a cohesive digital asset experience while also bringing traditional value into the mix.
The network’s Chief Innovation Officer, Tom Zschach, said, “For digital assets and currencies to succeed on a global scale, it’s critical that they can seamlessly coexist with traditional forms of money.” He added, “As new forms of value emerge, our intention is to continue offering our community the ability to seamlessly make and track transactions of all kinds of assets – using the same secure and resilient infrastructure that is integral to their operations today.”
SWIFT is Involved in Developing Multiple Digital Asset and Blockchain Platforms
Last month, SWIFT joined the Bank for International Settlement-led Project Agorá along with multiple central banks to work on a unified platform dealing with tokenized commercial bank deposits and tokenized wholesale CBDCs. Furthermore, the network has previously “demonstrated that it can transfer tokenized value across public and private blockchains, interlink central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) globally, and integrate multiple digital asset and cash networks.”
