Chainlink Working to Give Banks Self-Signing Access to Swift Ledger

Chainlink Labs said on 28 सितंबर 2026 that it is working to enable financial institutions to connect their systems and key-signing infrastructure to Swift’s blockchain ledger through the Chainlink platform. The solution enables banks to access the Swift ledger and manage their usage of smart contracts on both their own ledgers for tokenized deposits and the Swift ledger.

At the center of the solution is a self-signing model for financial institutions enabled through the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). Institutions retain control of the keys used to authorize transactions, while CRE orchestrates the workflows connecting them to Swift’s ledger. According to Chainlink, the arrangement allows banks to adopt 24/7 tokenized payment workflows while preserving their existing security governance, approval processes, and operating models.

The Self-Signing Model and the Chainlink Runtime Environment

Chainlink describes CRE as an orchestration layer enabling institutional-grade smart contracts that are data-connected, compliance-ready, private, and interoperable across blockchains and existing systems. According to the company, institutions can operate across public and private blockchains through a single integration, without building custom integrations for each chain or managing gas tokens, and can connect existing systems onchain without replacing their infrastructure or key-management solutions. CRE includes built-in tools for identity, observability, privacy, and access control, and it executes workflows across decentralized oracle networks with built-in consensus and cryptographic verification. Chainlink states that its infrastructure has enabled tens of trillions in transaction value and now secures the vast majority of decentralized finance.

Swift’s Ledger and Its Path to Live Pilots

Swift’s ledger is a digital platform for orchestrating 24/7 cross-border payments using tokenized deposits that remain on banks’ balance sheets, preserving the benefits of commercial bank money, according to Chainlink’s release. Bank-issued tokenized deposits remain on banks’ own ledgers, while Swift’s ledger coordinates the movement of funds between participating institutions, including overnight and on weekends. This orchestration takes place before final settlement, which continues through agreed mechanisms such as real-time gross settlement systems. The ledger does not change Swift’s role as a global financial messaging network, and banks can therefore extend payment availability without replacing their existing settlement arrangements.

Swift first announced the ledger at its Sibos 2025 conference in Frankfurt on 29 सितंबर 2025, with Chief Executive Officer Javier Pérez-Tasso presenting the project. Swift said at the time that more than 30 financial institutions from 16 countries were providing feedback on the design, with Consensys building a conceptual prototype. Swift envisaged the ledger as a secure, real-time log of transactions between financial institutions that would record, sequence, and validate transactions and enforce rules through smart contracts, built for interoperability with existing and emerging networks. Chainlink’s release states that the ledger was designed in collaboration with more than 40 financial institutions and went from concept to activation within nine months.

On 9 जुलाई 2026, Swift declared the ledger ready for initial use, with 17 banks from six continents preparing to pilot live tokenized-deposit transactions. The pilot group consists of ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand Bank, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq, MUFG Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered (STD.DE ), UBS, UOB, and Wells Fargo. Swift said banks benefit from improved client experience and global liquidity efficiency without compromising the compliance, credit, risk, and control standards embedded in existing payment processing. The cooperative also reported that 75 percent of payments on its network reach beneficiary banks within 10 minutes, and said its infrastructure is trusted to move the equivalent of world GDP every two to three days. Swift said the ledger will expand in functionality and availability after an initial controlled go-live phase, with Chief Business Officer Thierry Chilosi citing future innovation areas such as programmable money and agentic commerce.

Swift connects more than 11,500 financial institutions and corporates across more than 200 markets.

“I’m very excited about the Swift ledger and what it will mean for tokenized deposits, as well as where global payments goes next,” said Sergey Nazarov, CEO of Chainlink Labs. “We are thrilled to be supporting the Swift ledger as more banks seek to join it and need a technology partner that can help them launch tokenized deposit capabilities and properly connect to the Swift ledger to gain the full benefit of its large network of users.”