Evolve or Become Extinct: SWIFT looks at Blockchain
The blockchain is transforming the way businesses are conducted across the world. What will be its effect on SWIFT, a legacy network for communication between banks that has lasted for 43 years? The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) was founded in 1973 and has provided financial institutions a means to exchange information about transactions in a secure environment. A majority of banks worldwide use the SWIFT network for international interbank messages. Why is SWIFT so successful? Prior to SWIFT, banks used telex for communications. Telex had inherent....
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Swift seemingly has an ace up their sleeve to one-up blockchain-based projects. Financial infrastructure is on the brink of being disrupted by new technologies. Mainly blockchain technology is one of the contenders to disrupt the financial sector as we know it. Swift, one of the world’s leading money transfer protocols, will make sure they are not replaced by distributed ledgers. A very bold statement that will require a lot more than just strong words. The vast majority of international interbank messages and transfers takes place on the Swift network. Even though the group operating this....
Sometimes it is hard to understand just how little finance institutions actually understand blockchain technology. While blockchain is certainly not a panacea for financial institutions, it’s pretty close. And SWIFT is certainly no match. In a recent article featured on the website American Banker, the ability for blockchain tech to render an antiquated settlement and messaging technology called SWIFT was discussed. Apparently the mere mention of blockchain displacing SWIFT was shocking to bankers. That is just how ready for, forgive me for dropping this word, disruption these groups are.....
Can Swift stay relevant in a world of blockchain? Swift, founded in 1973 with the aim of standardizing how cross-border payments are sent, is the epitome of a middleman. It sits between many of the banks worldwide, making money off the fees it charges when its members sent transactions between one another. Since its founding, the number of Swift member banks has grown from 239 to more than 11,000. Last year, the "cooperative society" sent 6.1 billion financial messages on behalf of its members, earning €710m in operating revenue. Then came the blockchain, and in many ways, all....
In recent weeks, hot topics in the banking and blockchain technology sector have been the heist of $81 million from Bangladesh's central bank facilitated by hackers manipulating the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) messaging platform, and the oft-repeated buzzwords "blockchain" and "distributed ledger" as the "white knight" technology duo that's going to correct all that ails SWIFT. SWIFT is a global interbank messaging service connecting 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories around the....
A Russian university is ready to test its blockchain-based analogue to the global payment messaging network SWIFT, from which Russian banks were cut off as part of Western sanctions. The developers say their system would not allow the disconnecting of countries and banks. Russian Developers Create SWIFT Substitute Using Blockchain Experts from the Competence Center of the National Technology Initiative at the St Petersburg State University in Russia announced they are preparing to trial a new interbank payment system, an alternative to SWIFT. The latter is now inaccessible for major....