Blockchain did not disrupt SWIFT, but saved it.

Over the past decade, everyone has been asking the same question: “Will blockchain disrupt SWIFT?”

A Historic Convergence: From “Being Disrupted” to “Landing”

In the grand narrative of Web3, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has long been viewed as an “old world fortress” awaiting disruption by blockchain technology. However, the consecutive strategic plans from 2023 to 2025 show that SWIFT is not on the defensive—instead, it is taking the offensive with a “strategic landing.”

The climax of this journey occurs in November 2025, when Citibank and SWIFT successfully complete a fiat currency and digital currency PvP (Payment versus Payment) settlement pilot, advancing cross-chain interoperability standards. This is no longer a mere technical experiment, but rather a key “landing” of traditional financial main forces on the blockchain continent, marking a fundamental change in the nature of the global settlement power landscape.

This article will review, from the perspective of “global financial power transition,” how SWIFT seized the strategic high ground in the digital asset settlement arena within three years.

2023: Reconnaissance and Breaking the Ice

Key Event: SWIFT’s First Interoperability Test with Financial Giants and Chainlink

The exploration in 2023 was the “reconnaissance phase” of SWIFT’s strategic deployment. The main goal was to solve the pain point of fragmented tokenized assets and the challenge of securely transferring value across chains.

SWIFT made a clear decision to abandon building an isolated system of its own, and instead sought a “universal translator” capable of securely connecting existing SWIFT infrastructure to all blockchains. The introduction of Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) played this critical role. It enabled SWIFT’s traditional ISO 20022 message data to be securely and verifiably transmitted on-chain, and facilitated token transfers from Ethereum to permissioned chains.

In this stage, SWIFT completed the initial mapping of the on-chain world and confirmed that Chainlink, as an “enterprise abstraction layer,” would be the communications cornerstone for future strategic landings.

2024: Establishing the Beachhead

Key Event: UBS Tokenized Fund Subscription and Redemption Pilot Succeeds

UBS’s fund pilot in November 2024 was the pivotal battle that established the “beachhead” in SWIFT’s landing operation. This success defined the standard operating model for traditional finance’s future adoption of RWAs—a “hybrid model.”

This model perfectly resolved the contradiction between compliance and efficiency for institutions. Using Chainlink’s CRE process, subscription and redemption instructions were still sent through the SWIFT messaging system, but the minting and burning of on-chain assets was achieved with atomic automation.

This sent a clear signal to the $100 trillion global fund industry: you don’t need to abandon your existing processes to safely and compliantly enter the tokenized market. This hybrid model is the first line of defense for traditional finance embracing RWAs, and is the decisive anchor for large-scale institutional adoption.

2025: Tactical Deepening

Key Event 1: Choosing the Messaging Layer and Layer 2

In September 2025, SWIFT tested “on-chain messaging” functionality on Ethereum Layer 2 network Linea, proving its strategy was shifting from “connectivity” to “execution efficiency.” The choice of Layer 2 was made to ensure throughput, low cost, and privacy for high-frequency, high-value transactions, meeting the strict requirements of global interbank payments.

Key Event 2: Launch of a New Blockchain-Based Ledger

SWIFT announced the launch of a new blockchain-based ledger, with joint participation from leading global financial institutions such as BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon. This move indicated SWIFT was replacing the fundamental technology stack of its own settlement infrastructure, upgrading from a traditional telegraph system to an institutional-grade settlement layer with DLT features. This marked a shift from peripheral testing to core transformation.

The Final Battle

Key Event: Citibank and SWIFT Complete Fiat/Digital Currency PvP Settlement Pilot (November 2025)

The core value of the PvP (Payment versus Payment) mechanism lies in eliminating principal risk in foreign exchange transactions. Introducing this mechanism into fiat and digital currency settlement means that SWIFT, via smart contracts, achieved:

1. Atomicity: Synchronized completion of fiat payment and digital currency transfer, eliminating unilateral risk.
2. Trust Minimization: Leveraging DLT features, reducing reliance on counterparties or centralized intermediaries.

This signifies that the traditional financial system has found a compliant and secure paradigm for large-scale, high-risk settlement in the on-chain world, completing the strategic closed loop from off-chain to on-chain, from messaging to settlement.

Reshaping the Power Channels of Global Liquidity Distribution

SWIFT’s three-year embrace of blockchain is less about technological integration and more about an early bet on the core of global financial power.

It was not replaced by DeFi’s native tokens and public chains, but instead integrated the core value of blockchain technology into its own system, becoming the “global adaptation layer for the tokenization era.”

For investors and practitioners focused on the RWA sector, SWIFT’s evolution means:

The endgame of this war is not about who gets eliminated, but about who controls the new “power channels.”

In the next decade, the real competition will be among major institutions vying for RWA liquidity, asset pricing power, and cross-border settlement dominance on this new infrastructure. Whoever controls the channels controls financial hegemony.