Swift is experimenting with an onchain migration of its messaging system using Ethereum ETH Layer 2 Linea, according to a report from The Big Whale published Friday. More than a dozen financial institutions are involved in the developmental project, including BNP Paribas and BNY, the report said.
“The project will take several months to materialize, but it promises an important technological transformation for the international interbank payments industry,” an anonymous source said, according to the report. Swift, which services more than 11,500 financial institutions, has previously dabbled with blockchain technology. Last year, Swift said banks would conduct live trials of digital asset and currency transactions over its network at some point during 2025.
In August 2023, the global financial messaging network released results from a series of experiments focused on the transfer of tokenized value across multiple public and private blockchains. “The findings have potential to remove significant friction slowing the growth of tokenized asset markets and enable them to scale globally as they mature,” Swift said at the time.
Swift chose Linea, according to The Big Whale, because the “network emphasizes privacy through advanced cryptographic proofs, a feature deemed crucial for banks concerned with balancing innovation and regulatory requirements.” Built by Consensys, Linea is a zkEVM that leverages ZK-rollup technology for scaling and is compatible with Ethereum apps. It has been operationally live since July 2023. Consensys declined to comment. This month, Linea opened claims for its native asset, LINEA, with a token generation event.
