SWIFT, Consensys Pilot Tokenized Cross-Border Payments Ledger with 30 Banks

SWIFT, the global interbank messaging network used by more than 11,000 financial institutions, announced on Monday that it is developing a blockchain-based ledger with Consensys and a group of more than 30 banks to enable near-instant, around-the-clock crossborder payments and support tokenized forms of money. The initiative will begin with a conceptual prototype built by Consensys and is intended to make settlement faster and more transparent while preserving banks’ compliance and privacy requirements.

SWIFT said the ledger will function as a secure, real-time log of transactions between institutions, using smart contracts to record, sequence and validate payments. Consensys will develop the first-phase prototype on Linea, an Ethereum Layer 2 network that uses zkEVM and zk-rollup technology to increase throughput and lower costs while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum applications. Consensys executives confirmed the platform choice and said Linea’s cryptographic features can help protect sensitive information in regulated settings.

Officials described one notable element of the work as exploration of a stablecoin-style interbank settlement token. Details are still under...