Cryptocurrency investors comprise a colossal group that funds blockchain-based R&D efforts. Many investors, however, are not aware of their impact in the new age of crypto-based crowdfunding. Indeed, some inadvertently fund fraudsters instead of R&D projects. Nonetheless, there are enterprises genuinely contributing value in this field.
Swift and Cryptocurrencies
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) represents international payments for most people. It is also crucial for domestic currency payments. Without delving into the specifics, it is vital to understand that SWIFT operates as a payment organization. With the advent of blockchain-based solutions in all sectors, this technology ideally complements payment services.
SWIFT has been working on this front for a while, with Chainlink being one of its strongest partnerships. They recently announced:
In a new series of experiments, we will test how firms can utilize existing Swift infrastructures to efficiently instruct tokenized value transfer across a range of public and private blockchain networks. We are collaborating with more than a dozen major financial institutions and FMIs, including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citi, Clearstream, Euroclear, Lloyds Banking Group, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Chainlink, a leading Web3 services platform, will facilitate connectivity between public and private blockchains for these experiments.
This latest round of trials builds on a series of successful experiments in 2022. It will also explore potential operational and regulatory pitfalls financial institutions might encounter while operating in the blockchain environment.
A side note – Chainlink is currently the world’s largest blockchain-based Oracle solution, with a near-monopoly in the crypto field. Despite not achieving significant success with token utility, Chainlink remains robust and successful.
Payment System and Blockchain
SWIFT’s executives are aware of the future surge in demand for tokenized assets and blockchain-based payment systems. Swift’s Innovation Director stated:
In such a fragmented ecosystem, it will not be possible for financial institutions to connect individually to each platform. Therefore, the community is working with Swift to develop an interoperability model that will enable global access to different platforms. We don’t expect a single dominant blockchain network. We anticipate the emergence of numerous different platforms, each serving different customer segments with their unique abilities and requirements.
Just as Swift offers a critical solution in the payment system, it aims to maintain its influence in the blockchain-based world and is actively working in this field.