SWIFT’s Blockchain Breakthrough: Banks Race to Supercharge Global Payments
Key Facts: - SWIFT has launched a major effort with 30+ global banks and Consensys to build a blockchain-based shared ledger for cross-border payments reuters.com swift.com. For decades, SWIFT has run the messaging “plumbing” behind bank transfers – a system connecting >11,000 institutions in 200+ countries, moving trillions daily. But traditional cross-border payments remain slow and costly, often taking days via multiple correspondent banks. Crypto advocates even called SWIFT “antiquated” reuters.com. Now, under pressure from crypto stablecoins and looming digital currencies, SWIFT is racing to update its rails.