Citi Runs Live Payments on Swift's Blockchain Ledger
Citi has made history by becoming the first US bank to run live payments on Swift's blockchain ledger, marking a significant milestone in the adoption of blockchain technology in traditional finance. The move is seen as a major step towards reducing the pain points associated with cross-border payments, particularly the weekend delays that often plague global transactions.
The first live transactions were processed by Citi's services division on September 2, and involved pairing with First Abu Dhabi Bank in the Middle East and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in Southeast Asia. The transactions used tokenized deposits, which are not public cryptocurrencies, to move US dollar payment commitments across borders outside of traditional cutoff windows.
This is not a launch of a new cryptocurrency but rather an effort by Citi to match stablecoins on the one feature that corporate clients care about: fast and reliable money transfers. The pilot has already gained momentum with DBS completing a weekend US dollar payment with Citi's New York office in just minutes, instead of the usual one or two business days.