FEATURE: BLOCKCHAIN
ensuring banks can transfer funds across borders. But stablecoins, tokenised deposits and CBDCs are built to settle value directly. The need for a separate messaging layer diminishes when the value transfer itself is embedded in the technology.
This raises a difficult but necessary question: what does long-term revenue look like for an intermediary in a world built to cut them out? Updating technology is one thing. Reimagining value creation is another.
Swift has also partnered with Chainlink to prove it can act as a single entry point to multiple blockchains, sparing banks from building bespoke integrations with every new network.
These are strategically smart moves. Swift’ s unique advantage is its vast network – 11,500 institutions across more than 200 countries. If it can extend that network into the digital asset era while preserving compliance and security, it could remain indispensable.
Swift’ s blockchain gamble
To its credit, Swift has not ignored this reality. In 2025, it launched a blockchain ledger initiative in partnership with more than 30 major banks, including JP Morgan, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.
The project aims to enable 24 / 7 cross-border payments and interoperate with stablecoins and tokenised deposits.
But pilots and prototypes alone won’ t secure its future. The disruption is already playing out in real economies.
Lessons from emerging markets
Nowhere is the pressure on legacy rails clearer than in emerging markets, where the pain of outdated correspondent banking is most acute. In Africa, stablecoins already account for nearly half of all crypto activity. For businesses facing dollar shortages and
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