Three Central Banks Join SWIFT’s CBDC Interoperability Solution

Swift, the international financial messaging network, has recently announced that three central banks have started beta testing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) connector solution, an interoperability project meant to allow for global usage of CBDCs for cross-border payments.

Tom Zschach, Swift’s Chief Innovation Officer, stated that “Our focus is on interoperability, ensuring that new digital currencies can coexist flawlessly with today’s fiat-based currencies and payment systems.”

After beginning with a “sandbox” testing process in March which had 18 international financial institutions taking part, such as the Royal Bank of Canada, Banque de France, and HSBC, 4,736 transactions were successfully processed among the Quorum and Corda blockchain networks, and between a crypto asset and fiat currency during the 12-week period.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Central Bank of Kazakhstan are the central banks participating in the initial phase of the CBDC connector.