SWIFT will trial live transactions of tokenized assets and digital currencies in 2025, aiming to integrate blockchain-based tokens into the broader financial system.

Global financial messaging network SWIFT will trial live transactions of tokenized assets and digital currencies in 2025, marking a step toward broader adoption of blockchain-based finance, per a Reuters report on Oct. 3.

Banks and asset managers have long explored tokenizing assets like bonds, hoping blockchain technology can streamline trading and cut costs by eliminating middlemen. However, these efforts have struggled to gain traction in the wider market.

SWIFT has been involved in trials of central bank digital currencies and tokenized assets. The network’s latest initiative aims to connect these innovations with traditional banking, a move SWIFT says reflects rising industry demand for real-world digital asset transactions.

“To successfully trade and settle a tokenized bond transaction, you need the cash and that’s where a tokenized deposit or wholesale CBDC comes in. It’s not good enough if you just have delivery or just payment, you need both.”

SWIFT

As 90% of the world’s central banks explore digital currency options, SWIFT’s new platform — expected to launch within the next one to two years — aims to integrate CBDCs into the financial ecosystem. The organization believes that successful trading and settlement of tokenized bonds require both tokenized deposits or wholesale CBDCs, ensuring that payment and delivery are equally supported.

However, despite SWIFT’s integration efforts, not all countries are rushing to develop their digital currencies. Concerns persist regarding technological and regulatory hurdles, as highlighted by Sweden’s Riksbank, which emphasized the need for extensive technical and regulatory development to ensure secure offline payments with e-kronas.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das urged a cautious CBDC rollout, as the retail pilot now reaches over 5 million users.

India‘s central bank digital currency platform has surpassed the 5 million users mark as the country continues to cautiously expand its digital currency pilot program, per a Business Standard report.

Speaking at a conference in Bengaluru on Monday, Aug. 26, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasized the need for a measured approach to the full-scale rollout of the country’s CBDC, also known as the e-rupee, stressing the importance of understanding its impact on users, monetary policy, and the broader financial system. Das highlighted that comprehensive insights from pilot data are crucial before moving forward with a wider implementation.

“Actual introduction of CBDC can be phased in gradually. Undoubtedly, CBDC has the potential to underpin the payment systems of the future, both for domestic payments and also cross-border payments.”

Shaktikanta Das, Reserve Bank of India Governor

Launched in December 2022, the RBI’s CBDC pilot covers both retail and wholesale segments. The pilot, currently involving 16 participating banks, has expanded beyond initial payment use cases to test offline and programmability functionalities. Das pointed out that the programmability feature could play a pivotal role, saying that it could serve as a “key enabler for financial inclusion by ensuring delivery of funds to the targeted user.”

The e-rupee adoption has been sluggish, with the Reserve Bank of India reporting 1 million retail transactions by late June, a milestone reached only after local banks introduced incentives and partially paid employee salaries using the state-issued digital currency.

The RBI had previously urged banks to increase transactions to at least 1 million per day by late 2023 to test the system’s scalability. However, this push has since ceased, casting doubt on the future of the digital currency initiative due to the gap between incentivized metrics and actual user adoption.