SWIFT partners with over 30 financial institutions to develop a "blockchain ledger," promoting large-scale circulation of tokenized assets

SWIFT today (19th) announced that it is collaborating with over 30 financial institutions worldwide to develop a blockchain-based shared digital ledger aimed at supporting the large-scale circulation of regulated tokenized assets.

(Background: SWIFT accelerates blockchain adoption: conducting digital asset and currency transaction experiments next year, assisting cross-border transactions of various CBDCs)

(Additional context: SWIFT challenges “stablecoins are useless”: Stablecoins will not disrupt existing finance because they only serve specific clients and scenarios)

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) announced today (19th) that it is working with more than 30 financial institutions globally to develop a blockchain-based shared digital ledger designed to facilitate the large-scale circulation of regulated tokenized assets.

We’re already making progress with our plans to add a blockchain-based ledger to our infrastructure, working with a global group of 30+ banks globally to shape the ledger’s design.

“In order to unlock that benefit of scale, we need to work together,” said Thierry Chilosi, our… pic.twitter.com/FS0c7qOLm2

— Swift (@swiftcommunity) December 19, 2025

Key Details: Interoperability and industry collaboration are focal points

According to SWIFT, this shared digital ledger will serve as a secure, real-time transaction record between financial institutions, automatically verifying transaction sequences and enforcing rules through smart contracts, while maintaining SWIFT’s usual reliability and security. It will not replace existing systems but will run in parallel with traditional infrastructure, bridging conventional finance and tokenized assets, addressing current fragmentation issues in digital finance — multiple isolated networks are difficult to interconnect, limiting scalability and adoption speed.

SWIFT emphasizes that this project is the result of collective industry effort. It has already partnered with over 30 leading global institutions, technology partners, and central banks, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, HSBC, covering North America, Europe, and Asia. Technologically, SWIFT is collaborating with Consensys, an Ethereum ecosystem developer, to develop a conceptual prototype using Layer-2 networks to ensure scalability and privacy. The initial focus is on 24/7 real-time cross-border payments, with future expansion to tokenized deposits, stablecoins, CBDCs, and digital securities.

In response, Michael Spiegel, Head of Global Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered, commented: “The digital finance landscape is at a critical point; tokenization and digital assets are moving from pilot projects into mainstream adoption.” This reflects that tokenization is no longer experimental but a practical need for financial institutions to move value instantly and securely.

SWIFT’s Outlook on the Future of Finance

SWIFT believes that interoperable digital infrastructure is key to the future of global commerce. Connecting tokenized assets across networks and jurisdictions will better support trade, payments, and economic growth. This is not just a technological upgrade but a way to enable finance to operate at the speed required by modern economies — providing 24/7 services, reducing costs, optimizing liquidity, and fostering new efficiencies and innovations.

SWIFT CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso also pointed out that this is a crucial step toward the “future infrastructure stack,” emphasizing parallel innovation: upgrading existing rails while building digital rails to offer the industry maximum flexibility.

This initiative continues SWIFT’s digital asset experiments over the past two years, including collaborations with Chainlink and real-time pilots, aiming to accelerate the growth of the tokenized asset market (projected to reach trillions of dollars by 2030).