1. SWIFT’s Objectives and Planned Innovations
2. Ethereum Connections and Experimental Technologies
3. Outlook for Tokenized Asset Integration

On Sept. 11, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) announced plans to develop real-world solutions enabling its members to access and transact with regulated digital assets and currencies.

SWIFT’s Objectives and Planned Innovations

SWIFT aims to empower its members to transact with both traditional and emerging crypto assets over its interbank network. Established in 1973 in Belgium, SWIFT is a cooperative owned by the banks and other member firms that use its services.

Ethereum Connections and Experimental Technologies

Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, observed that Ethereum is the only layer-1 blockchain SWIFT has mentioned in such communications. SWIFT’s experiments focus on interoperability between traditional finance and emerging technologies like tokenized assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Outlook for Tokenized Asset Integration

SWIFT acknowledged the growth in tokenized real-world assets, citing Standard Chartered research that estimated the market size to reach $30 trillion by 2034. The organization noted that the current platforms and technologies are fragmented, creating complexity for institutional investors. In its experiments, SWIFT successfully demonstrated the transfer of tokenized value across public and private blockchains and plans to evolve its infrastructure to facilitate various use cases in digital asset transactions.

While SWIFT’s announcement is promising for crypto, it is highly unlikely that users will be able to send decentralized digital assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum over the network. However, it could benefit the underlying infrastructure, such as Ethereum and Chainlink, which SWIFT has already conducted experiments with.