FEATURE: BLOCKCHAIN
Swift’ s blockchain gamble. Can the world’ s banking backbone reinvent?
As blockchain technology reshapes global finance, legacy systems like Swift are under growing pressure to evolve or risk becoming obsolete. Chris Maurice, CEO and Co-founder, Yellow Card, tells us why blockchain’ s rise marks not just a technological shift but a fundamental redefinition of how value moves across the world.
For years, industry headlines have circled around the same narrative: blockchain will kill Swift. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, founded in the 1970s, has been the invisible layer behind trillions of dollars in global payments. Yet its very design – slow, costly and dependent on intermediaries – has made it an easy target for critics and innovators alike.
Chris Maurice, CEO and Co-founder, Yellow Card
So, the idea that Swift is finally exploring blockchain use cases shouldn’ t come as a shock. In fact, it was always inevitable.
The irony is that recreating Swift’ s model on-chain is almost laughably simple: slow transactions down by three days, charge US $ 50 per transfer and call it innovation. In that sense, blockchain doesn’ t just challenge Swift; it exposes the inefficiency of its operating model. It’ s no different than the car replacing the horse and buggy. Better systems make older ones obsolete.
If Swift wants to exist in 20 years, exploring blockchain rails is not a bold move. It’ s a survival mechanism.
A lesson from the past
To understand Swift’ s dilemma, it helps to look back. Imagine in 2005 if a major bank had announced:
“ We’ re not building an app. We’ re doubling down on in-person banking because people love branches.” By 2025, that bank would be a case study in irrelevance. The Blockbuster Video of banking. Consumer behaviour shifted, and most of us can’ t remember the last time we physically visited a branch.
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