Over a dozen major banks are involved with the interbank network’s blockchain experiment, according to a report by The Big Whale.
SWIFT, the global financial messaging network, has reportedly selected Linea, an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) blockchain developed by Consensys, to explore going on-chain, as well as developing a potential stablecoin, according to an exclusive report by The Big Whale.
The project, which is reportedly still in development, already involves more than a dozen major financial institutions, including BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon, Grégory Raymond, co-founder of The Big Whale, said in a post on X on Friday, Sept. 26.
A source from one of the participating banks described the initiative to The Big Whale as “an important technological transformation for the international interbank payments industry,” noting that the project will take several months to materialize.”
SWIFT is currently comprised of over 11,500 institutions across more than 200 countries and territories. According to its website, the equivalent of the world’s GDP passes through its network roughly every three days.
Linea was reportedly selected by SWIFT for its advanced privacy features, which enable banks to test blockchain functionality without compromising sensitive data, the report noted. The L2 has a total value locked (TVL) $1.37 billion. It recently launched its LINEA token, which is currently trading at $0.02766, up 8.2% over the past 24 hours.
The Defiant reached out to Consensys for comment and confirmation, but a spokesperson declined to confirm or deny details about the project.
If the project is indeed in the works, it could signal SWIFT’s broader push toward blockchain adoption. Analysts say the move could also help SWIFT remain competitive against blockchain-based payment networks like Ripple.
In the past, public figures like President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump have called SWIFT “antiquated” and “broken.”
“There’s nothing that can be done on blockchain that can’t be done better than the way that the current financial institutions are working,” Eric Trump said earlier this year at the Token2049 event in Dubai. “SWIFT is an absolute disaster.”
The initiative also underscores the growing interest among traditional financial (TradFi) institutions in stablecoins and tokenized assets. Stablecoins currently boast a market capitalization of $295.79 billion, up 42% since January, per DeFiLlama.
On Thursday, Citi released a report that predicts stablecoins could reach $1.9 trillion in issuance by 2030 in a base case, and up to $4 trillion in a bullish scenario.
Moreover, stablecoins could process about $100 trillion in payments each year by 2030, or up to $200 trillion in a best-case scenario. Whereas bank tokens, such as tokenized deposits, could handle $100 trillion to $140 trillion annually.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/swift-reportedly-to-pilot-on-chain-network-on-linea