Taurus outlines three technical hurdles for banks adopting Swift’s blockchain network

HSBC and Standard Chartered completed the first live interbank transaction using Swift’s ledger in August. DBS and Citi later executed a weekend cross-border dollar payment in minutes, rather than up to two business days.

Brahimi said the extra technology is not necessarily a major hurdle for banks already issuing digital assets or managing digital assets nor does he believe it will hold Swift back from continuing to dominate its sector.

Brahimi said the need for additional infrastructure should not be read as a weakness in Swift’s design. The ledger is still an early-stage product, he said, but it gives banks a choice between existing payment rails and tokenized deposits that can move around the clock. “I think it’s a good move,” he said. “That provides the choice.”

Taurus recently announced its Swift integration in August. Brahimi said the firm provides the three required layers through one platform: a permissioned ledger, wallet-management tools and tokenization and smart-contract software. He said competitors may require banks to use multiple vendors for those functions.

The need for this infrastructure is also why tokenized deposits remain largely an institutional product. Banks have used internal tokenized-deposit systems for years, but moving money between institutions requires shared standards and compatible systems on both ends.