Airdrop Army

SWIFT’s got something big cooking, and it’s got the global banking giants lining up. Banks across North America, Europe, and Asia are gearing up for digital asset trials set to shake the financial world by 2025. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill blockchain experiment—this time, SWIFT is diving deep into the realm of multi-currency transactions, pushing the boundaries of what can move on their network.

Come 2025, SWIFT’s trials will focus on experimenting with transactions involving a slew of digital currencies and assets. The main goal? To find out how financial institutions can tap into “multiple digital asset classes and currencies” without stumbling over themselves. Everyone’s tired of dealing with fragmented tech and “digital islands,” as SWIFT calls them.

But here’s where things get spicy: these trials aren’t just about crypto hype. They’re aimed at handling real-world transactions, from payments to foreign exchange to securities and trade finance. SWIFT’s planning to integrate multi-ledger delivery-versus-payment and payment-versus-payment systems, a mouthful that basically means they’re solving one of crypto’s biggest headaches—how to get all these different types of value to work together.

Uniting the Digital Asset Ecosystem

Tom Zschach, SWIFT’s chief innovation officer, has a vision. He wants traditional money and digital assets to chill together, coexist, and transact on a global scale without drama. For SWIFT, that’s the Holy Grail. Zschach explained, “It’s critical that digital currencies and traditional forms of money work side by side.”

This plan isn’t just about testing new tech for the sake of it. Zschach made it clear: SWIFT’s eyes are on building real-world apps, not just flashy demos. The goal is clear—interlink all these “disparate networks” to connect digital assets with good ol’ fiat currencies. SWIFT’s community of banks will be able to move money like never before—seamlessly blending the old and the new.

But this isn’t SWIFT’s first rodeo in blockchain. They’ve already been sniffing around the space, joining forces with the Bank for International Settlements in the Project Agorá. They’re toying with ideas around tokenized commercial deposits and CBDCs on one platform, trying to bring all that tokenized money under one roof.

Plus, earlier this year, SWIFT tossed around the idea of a blockchain-based “state machine.” It’s supposed to track real-time transaction states across institutions. Could it work on SWIFT’s already established systems like the ISO-20022? Maybe. SWIFT’s not saying too much just yet. And they’re keeping their cards close about which digital assets will get a seat at the table during these trials.