Published on the 14/07/2026 | Written by Heather Wright

Blockchain finally lands a job…

ANZ is among 17 banks preparing to pilot live transactions on Swift’s new blockchain-based shared ledger, a move aimed at supporting real-time, always-on, cross-border payments using tokenised bank deposits.

The initiative marks the global financial messaging network’s first production use of a blockchain-based ledger and is being positioned as a way to enable funds to move overnight and on weekends while remaining within the regulated banking system – and compete with the emerging stablecoin market.

“We see strong potential to help customers move funds in real-time and manage liquidity more flexibly.”

Banks from six continents are taking part, including ANZ, Citi, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, UBS, Wells Fargo and Standard Chartered. Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) says participating banks will use the shared ledger as an orchestration layer for bank-issued tokenised deposits on their own infrastructure, allowing institutions to move value before final settlement is completed through existing banking systems.

For ANZ, the trial expands a digital assets strategy the bank has been pursuing for several years, including work with tokenised assets and blockchain-based settlement technologies.

Lisa Vasic, ANZ managing director transaction banking, says the bank is working with Swift and global partners to ‘securely scale next-generation payments infrastructure’ and deliver ‘more efficient, always-on payment capabilities’.

“By combining Swift’s trusted network with this new infrastructure, we see strong potential to help customers move funds in real-time and manage liquidity more flexibly,” Vasic says.

Beyond crypto and speculation

Blockchain has struggled to find a use case within business. For much of the past decade, the technology, initially hyped as the foundational technology for Bitcoin and decentralised digital currency, has been associated more with cryptocurrencies, speculative trading and fraud than practical enterprise applications. Despite billions of dollars invested globally, and plenty of attempts, relatively few large-scale business deployments have emerged outside digital asset markets.

The distributed ledgers have been trialled for everything from smart contracts that automatically execute when predetermined conditions are met, to supply chain tracking systems designed to create tamper-resistant records of product governance and movement. But while some have delivered niche benefits, few have achieved widespread adoption at scale – and there have been several high profile failures. Maersk and IBM shuttered the TradeLens blockchain-enabled global trade platform in 2022 after five years work, blaming an apparent lack of interest and trust from the industry. The ASX’s blockchain-powered Chess settlement and clearing system project meanwhile went down in a ball of flames – labelled a ‘profound failure’ by the chair of a parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services, and leading to an AU$250 million writedown.

The payments difference

The Swift initiative sees some of the world’s largest banks using the technology to tackle an issue that has frustrated businesses for decades: The limitations of cross-border payments.

International transfers remain constrained by time zones, banking hours and fragmented settlement processes. While businesses have become increasingly digital and globally connected, moving money internationally often remains slower than moving information.

Swift believes tokenised deposits operating over a blockchain-based ledger could help bridge that gap. The organisations says the new capability would allow banks to support 24/7 cross-border payments while maintaining the compliance, risk management and control frameworks already embedded into the global financial system.

“It allows tokenised value to move across borders with the velocity and flexibility modern commerce expects, while maintaining the same high levels of resiliency, security and compliance global finance requires,” says Thierry Chilosi, Swift chief business officer.

The approach differs significantly from public cryptocurrency networks.

Rather than creating an alternative financial system, Swift’s ledger is designed to sit alongside existing banking infrastructure. Participating banks continue issuing and managing deposits, while the ledger provides a common mechanism for coordinating transactions between institutions. Final settlement still occurs through established banking channels.

That distinction may prove critical.

Many organisations have shown little appetite for holding cryptocurrencies or exposing core treasury processes to public blockchain networks. The involvement of the 17 banks suggests growing interest from major financial institutions in tokenised deposits as a way to improve payment availability and liquidity while remaining within established regulatory and banking frameworks.

Swift says banks will be able to move tokenised funds around the clock, including outside normal business hours, helping businesses access capital more quickly and manage liquidity more efficiently.

Testing blockchain’s real value

The launch also appears to reflect a broader shift taking place within the banking sector, with many major financial institutions increasingly focused on determining where exactly blockchain can deliver measurable value. Cross-border payments have emerged as one of the strongest candidates because they involve multiple organisations, multiple jurisdictions and significant coordination requirements – all characteristics that align naturally with distributed ledger designs.

In effect, the trial represents blockchain being used for what it was arguably always designed to do: Maintain a trusted and shared record between parties that do not directly control the same systems.

Swift says the shared ledger, first announced last year, was designed and built with feedback from international financial institutions.

“The strong support from banks shows the practical value of this approach,” Chilosi says, adding that it will help scale benefits globally while creating a foundation for future innovation in areas like programmable money and agentic commerce, where automated systems execute transactions and payments on behalf of users.

The scale of the network involved also gives the initiative significance. Belgium-based Swift underpins the vast majority of international bank messaging and says its infrastructure connects more than 200 markets worldwide.

While enterprise blockchain initiatives have often generated considerable hype before falling short of expectations, Swift’s initiative targets a clearly defined operational problem and is backed by institutions already responsible for moving trillions of dollars through the global financial system.

For ANZ and its banking peers, that may ultimately prove blockchain’s most natural home: Not replacing banks, but helping them move money faster.