Swift, the Belgium-based financial messaging cooperative, said on July 9 that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use.

Seventeen banks, including DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered, HSBC, and Citi, are preparing to pilot live cross-border transactions using tokenized deposits.

Swift said tokenized deposits are digital representations of commercial bank deposits that operate within existing banking regulations. The ledger is designed to support 24/7 cross-border payments outside normal banking hours. Final settlement is completed through existing systems.

Swift said it announced the ledger last year and built it in nine months. It added that 75% of payments on its network already reach recipient banks within 10 minutes, often in seconds.

The pilot comes as bank-led networks such as Partior, a Singapore-based cross-border payments company, already offer 24/7 cross-border settlement using digitized commercial bank money. Broader interbank interoperability for tokenized deposits remains in early testing.

🔗 Source: Swift