Swift starts blockchain ledger with initial set of 16 banks

Global financial messaging network Swift launched a blockchain-based shared ledger on Thursday with an initial set of 16 banks including Citi and ​HSBC , as part of a push to enable round-the-clock payments ‌and compete with the emerging stablecoin industry. Belgium-based Swift, which underpins the vast majority of international bank-to-bank messaging, said the new ledger would allow "tokenised" funds - which have the benefit ​of being programmable for certain uses - to be moved 24 hours ​a day, including on weekends. It advances one of the biggest ⁠attempts by the mainstream banking industry to harness blockchain technology while also ​preserving the compliance and operational controls that global regulators require.