SWIFT system will allow cryptocurrency transfers this year

The international payment system SWIFT will allow cryptocurrency transfers this year, the company’s representatives announced on its official website. Blockchain technologies will simplify transfers between banks and other financial institutions. Using SWIFT, central banks will be able to directly connect their networks to other payment systems through a single gateway.

The announcement of the launch of crypto payments appeared in the SWIFT for Business section, so it is not yet known for certain whether individuals will be able to use the new services. According to SWIFT representatives, in the future, the company will launch the identification of blockchain wallet addresses. SWIFT is also considering the possibility of introducing digital asset storage services.

Back in September, SWIFT management signed an agreement with Chainlink to test payment transactions using different blockchains. For the initial proof of concept, SWIFT used the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). The cooperation between the two companies allowed financial institutions to use the blockchain’s capabilities without developing new services.

In addition to the usual digital assets, the payment giant is interested in national cryptocurrencies (CBDCs), which were successfully tested by SWIFT back in October. According to SWIFT CIO Tom Zschach, government stablecoins of various national banks and tokenized assets were successfully used in the financial infrastructure during two separate experiments. Fourteen central and commercial banks, including the Bank of France, the German Federal Bank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, NatWest, SMBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, and Wells Fargo, participated in the CBDC full-scale deployment test.