Swift is piloting a blockchain-based messaging system with Consensys’ Ethereum layer-2 Linea

Swift, the payments network that keeps global banking running, is dipping its toes into ￰0￱ company is testing whether its core messaging system, the mechanism that allows more than 11,000 banks to securely talk to each other, could one day run ￰1￱ experiment, reported by Grégory Raymond of The Big Whale on X , brings heavyweight partners to the ￰2￱ Paribas, BNY Mellon and several global banks are already ￰3￱ now, it’s still early days as the pilot will reportedly take months before results ￰4￱ one banker close to the project described it as “an important technological transformation for the international interbank payments industry.” Why is Swift considering Linea?

Swift’s current system is well-trusted but also criticized by those who claim that it’s expensive, often slow, and heavily reliant on ￰5￱ an era where money and assets are going digital, that centralization is starting to look like a ￰6￱ fast settlement that’s seen in decentralized transactions has led to people calling for increased usage of blockchain ￰7￱ Linea, an Ethereum layer-2 network built by Consensys, the same team behind ￰8￱ appeal lies in its ability to keep data private through advanced cryptography, a must-have for institutions bound by strict ￰9￱ choice also ties in with Swift’s long-term digital asset ￰10￱ year, it announced trials for central bank digital currencies and tokenized assets.

Now, by bringing Linea into the mix, Swift seems willing to test whether blockchain can overhaul its very core: the messaging rails ￰11￱ banks are paying attention For big names like BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon, this is more than tinkering with new ￰12￱ blockchain-based messaging works, it could merge communications and settlement into a single, seamless ￰13￱ means lower costs and fewer ￰14￱ also helps them keep pace with challengers like Ripple , which has long argued its blockchain system can outdo Swift’s legacy ￰15￱ change won’t be ￰16￱ blockchain into existing systems will require time, investment and regulatory ￰17￱ remain around how such a system would perform at the scale Swift operates, and whether regulators across the US, EU and Asia would be comfortable with ￰18￱ has always moved ￰19￱ the past few years, it has tested APIs, dabbled with AI to fight fraud, and explored tokenized asset ￰20￱ with Linea fits this pattern: try a controlled, private environment before scaling anything to the ￰21￱ the pilot succeeds, it could become one of the largest real-world blockchain deployments ￰22￱ would also send a strong signal to the rest of the financial industry that blockchain isn’t just for niche use cases anymore — it’s ready to power the systems that move trillions of dollars every ￰23￱ your project in front of crypto’s top minds?

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