SWIFT said its blockchain-based ledger has reached the minimum viable product stage and is preparing for an initial pilot. Seventeen banks from six continents are set to use tokenized deposits on the infrastructure for live 24/7 cross-border payments. The project has moved from its first public unveiling at the Sibos conference in September last year to pilot readiness in nine months.
Seventeen banks are joining the first pilot
The banks named for the pilot are ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citi, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds, Mashreq, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, OCBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB and Wells Fargo.
SWIFT said more than 40 institutions took part in the early design process, with 17 banks selected for the pilot phase. Their task is to use tokenized deposits on a permissioned chain to record and verify payment commitments in real time.
The ledger is built on Hyperledger Besu
The system runs on Hyperledger Besu, an enterprise private-chain framework led by the Linux Foundation and compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM. It is a permissioned network in which each bank keeps control of its own private keys and asset custody. Funds are not pooled into a shared on-chain public address.
SWIFT is positioned as the coordination layer. It records and verifies interbank payment commitments in real time, while final settlement remains in the existing system. The messaging standard used is ISO 20022, which SWIFT has already mandated.
The design centers on leaving banks' current custody structures and settlement finality untouched. Banks keep control of assets within their compliance frameworks, while the private chain synchronizes a verifiable payment ledger among members. For licensed institutions, that means access to tokenization-linked real-time reconciliation and liquidity visibility without rebuilding current risk-control and compliance structures.
Tokenization enters SWIFT's own framework
The report said ideas such as tokenization, programmable money and 24/7 real-time liquidity did not originate in the traditional finance establishment, but SWIFT has now folded them into its own membership-based framework. The announcement also referred to "agentic commerce," described as a future in which AI agents can move value autonomously, across jurisdictions and in programmable form.
SWIFT's entry gives tokenized payments a stronger compliance label. Once the main coordinating network for global interbank messaging starts defining tokenization standards, the discussion shifts from an industry experiment toward infrastructure.
The limits of a permissioned model
The same architecture also sets clear boundaries. The network is membership-based, and governance rules, access criteria and upgrade decisions are controlled by SWIFT and participating banks. Any entity that uses the chain must be on an approved list, which means the system is built from the outset as a closed loop among known counterparties.
That structure offers low compliance friction, controlled counterparty risk and strong regulatory visibility. It also means the network does not extend to market participants outside the permissioned circle and is not designed for open asset issuance or trading scenarios without access controls.
EVM compatibility leaves room for interoperability
One technical detail stands out: EVM compatibility. As described in the report, that means the smart-contract logic on this private chain can, in theory, use the same language as the wider EVM ecosystem. In the near term, that may simply make it easier for banks to reuse existing tooling. Over a longer horizon, it leaves open a path for connections between different networks.
SWIFT also said the ledger supports mutual recognition with tokens, central bank digital currencies, stablecoins and other tokenized assets. In other words, the private chain was not designed as a standalone island. It includes interfaces for external connectivity. How those interfaces are eventually used, and which networks they may connect to, remains in the hands of member banks and regulators, according to the report.
Attention now turns to live operating data
The 17-bank pilot is only the opening step. The next points to watch are operating data: transaction volumes, how intraday overdrafts are handled, how resilient the permissioned network is under stressed market conditions, and what share of real cross-border payment flows participating banks will move onto the ledger.
Another open question is whether the tokenized deposit standard tested on this private chain could spread into a template adopted more broadly across the industry. SWIFT has not tried to replace the current cross-border payments system. What it has done is insert a shared-ledger module into an infrastructure that has been running for decades. Whether that module remains a closed premium channel or develops connections with other financial networks is still unresolved.