SWIFT turns focus to digital assets in 2022 hackathon

Global payment giant SWIFT determined its 2022 hackathon theme as “Digital assets: exploring interoperability and ownership” as it hopes to bring the brightest of the industry together to collaborate and innovate on digital assets.

The company acknowledged the significance of digital assets for the future of finance by stating:

“Digital assets are a key topic on the innovation agenda, as many leading forces in the industry know.”

SWIFT also said that it has been experimenting with digital assets on its own and with major industry players. The company hopes to take its efforts further with the 2022 hackathon.

The hackathon will take place between the 6th and 23rd of September, and the registrations are open until 29 July.

Topics of interest

SWIFT determined interoperability and ownership as the two main challenges to tackle during the hackathon.

Under interoperability, participants are encouraged to seek scalable solutions for firms who want faster and cheaper transactions, with aspects of finality and irrevocability that will comply with legal obligations. To guide the participants, SWIFT suggests examining transactions in coin-to-coin, tokenized assets to a single currency, and tokenized asset purchase with multi-linking.

Under ownership, the focus will be on the traceability of ownership across multiple chains. The hackathon announcement specifically says transferring and tracing ownership between different ledgers that use other technologies should be the main focus.

Payments in crypto

The topic of crypto payments has been trending since the beginning of 2022. Both crypto and non-crypto companies have been launching crypto payment solutions.

Companies

In May, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta revealed its payment initiative when it applied for the trademark of “MetaPay.” Zuckerberg gave few details about what the MetaPay will include, but he said it would be implemented in the company’s metaverse.

In the same month, payment company Stripe added Bitcoin as a payment option. Another payment giant,  Paypal, launched the test version of its crypto payment solution in June.

At the same time, prominent companies from the industry have been shaking hands to co-create crypto payment solutions. Binance and TripleA, for example, agreed to work on a global crypto payment gateway in June. In the same month, Mastercard shook hands with Brazilian e-commerce Mercado Libre to enhance crypto payment solutions on the country’s e-commerce websites.

Officials

While company-based innovations have already started to answer crypto-payment demands, central banks and government officials around the globe have advised incorporating the technology into traditional finance systems.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s CEO Eddie Yue was one of the officials that spoke very recently. He said that the traditional finance industry could greatly benefit from the technology behind successful crypto protocols. While encouraging incorporation, Yue also called for a comprehensive regulation to monitor the new markets.

Similarly, Bank of England’s Deputy Governor for Financial Stability Jon Cunliffe said that crypto is here to stay and can significantly benefit the current financial system after implementing a well-rounded regulatory framework.

Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand are other prominent government officials who agree with Yue and Cunliffe. They proposed a draft bill that suggests the full incorporation of crypto into the U.S. financial system. The bill hasn’t been voted on yet.