Shared ledger recording interbank payments in banks' tokenized deposits

Swift's ledger records banks' payment commitments in tokenized deposits for cross-border payments at any hour, with final settlement on existing rails. Swift said in March 2026 that it uses an EVM-compatible architecture based on Hyperledger Besu, operated by Swift itself; it is permissioned and run for its member banks. Swift declared it ready for initial use on 9 July 2026, with 17 banks preparing to pilot, among them BNY, Citi, HSBC, Standard Chartered, UBS and Wells Fargo. The first live interbank transaction, between HSBC and Standard Chartered, was on 20 August 2026.