During Sibos 2026, industry-standard oracle platform Chainlink officially launched a connectivity framework that allows global financial institutions to access Swift’s blockchain ledger using the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). The self-signing solution allows banks to seamlessly execute 24/7 cross-border payments and manage smart contracts using tokenized deposits.
Swift is the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, connecting over 11,500 institutions across more than 200 countries and moving the equivalent of the world’s GDP approximately every three days. Announced during Sibos 2025, Swift’s blockchain ledger was developed with over 40 financial institutions to support 24/7, real-time cross-border payments.
CRE is a vital orchestration layer that allows institutions to seamlessly connect with onchain finance. Built to capture tokenization’s $867 trillion market opportunity, CRE dramatically accelerates the rate at which institutional capital can flow onchain.
CRE orchestrates workflows connecting financial institutions to Swift’s ledger, while institutions retain full control of the keys used to authorize transactions. The solution allows banks to adopt 24/7 tokenized payment workflows while preserving their existing security governance, approval processes, and operating models. Bank-issued tokenized deposits remain on banks’ ledgers, while Swift’s ledger securely coordinates the movement of funds between institutions.
The project is currently in a limited pilot testing phase, with 17 participating banks in six countries including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, and Wells Fargo.
“I’m very excited about the Swift ledger and what it will mean for tokenized deposits, as well as where global payments goes next,” said Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov in an official announcement.
“We are thrilled to be supporting the Swift ledger as more banks seek to join it and need a technology partner that can help them launch tokenized deposit capabilities and properly connect to the Swift ledger to gain the full benefit of its large network of users.”
The collaboration extends Swift’s ongoing work with Chainlink to advance institutional tokenized asset adoption, including a system for settling tokenized fund subscriptions and redemptions with fiat payment systems. The model, established with UBS, uses CRE and Chainlink’s DTA technical standard to manage digital asset workflows within existing regulatory frameworks.