Introduction

In the past few years, when we discussed stablecoins, blockchain, and cross-border capital flows, the most common benchmark was Swift—this "old infrastructure" that has been operating since 1973, facilitating global bank cross-border communication. Its task is simple yet crucial: to enable banks in different countries to communicate using the same messaging language, smoothly completing complex actions like cross-border payments, custody, and clearing.

But times have changed.

Blockchain has transformed global transfers from "T+2 days" to "a few seconds," and stablecoins have addressed the painful time lag in traditional clearing, leading to the emergence of more alternative solutions. Thus, a question began to arise:

Is Swift being replaced, or will Swift actively evolve?

This year's answer is very clear:

Swift not only does not intend to be replaced but also wants to become the "global router" for the next generation of RWA and digital finance.

1. Why is everyone saying "stablecoins are fast, Swift is slow"?

The reason is simple:

• Traditional cross-border payments: 2–3 days
• On-chain stablecoins: funds arrive in seconds

The experiential gap over the past few years has been sufficient for banks, institutions, and enterprises to rethink the underlying logic of cross-border finance.

As a result, Swift has had to accelerate—and its actions are becoming increasingly frequent.

In 2023, it tested "cross-border CBDC interconnectivity" with over 30 institutions, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bundesbank, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, and other central bank-level entities.

By 2025, it directly extended its reach into blockchain: Swift began testing on-chain messaging using Ethereum L2 Linea, with participation from over ten institutions, including BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon.

From this moment on, Swift is no longer just the "telegraph system" for interbank communication but has directly entered the core communication layer of on-chain scenarios.

2. Swift is transitioning from "cross-border payments" to Web3 and RWA

If the previous actions were merely "adapting to blockchain," then a new plan announced by Swift in 2024 truly made the financial world realize: its ambitions are far greater than we thought.

In September 2024, Swift announced the launch of multi-ledger testing, aiming to process traditional and tokenized assets within the same global network.

This means:

• Securities buyers can make direct one-click payments on Swift
• Simultaneously complete the delivery of tokenized assets (DvP)
• Or complete payment versus payment (PvP) on-chain across assets
• Banks can use Swift to process transactions involving blockchain assets

More importantly: they have placed the focus of this plan directly on RWA. Why? Because the future market size of RWA is expected to reach $30 trillion by 2034. Whoever can become the infrastructure for cross-chain and cross-border circulation of assets will become the "operating system" of global finance.

Swift's judgment is very clear:

The biggest problem in the current RWA market is "insufficient interoperability," with digital assets scattered across various chains, systems, and countries, forming isolated islands. What Swift aims to do is connect these islands.

3. ISO 20022: The missing piece for RWA development

To transform RWA from "experimental" to truly entering the mainstream financial system, Swift has further promoted the global banking switch to ISO 20022 this year.

So, what exactly is ISO 20022?

In a nutshell:

It is a "unified data language" that the global financial system can understand. Whether it's payments, securities, clearing, custody, or trade finance, all key information must be expressed according to this standard. Why is this crucial for RWA? Because what RWA lacks the most is a standardized language for off-chain information.

The key value of ISO 20022 for RWA can be explained in four points:

1. Information about real assets must be expressible in a structured manner

Trade certificates, bond information, storage records, clearing data… ISO 20022 has standard fields for all of these. When off-chain information is transformed into structured data, it can be directly integrated into on-chain modules for automatic verification.

2. Due diligence, compliance, and risk control can run automatically

ISO 20022 clearly labels participants, paths, purposes, and regulatory codes. This makes RWA not just "tokenized records," but truly regulatory-compliant "digital financial assets."

3. Cross-chain and cross-border circulation can have a unified underlying language

With a common language, asset issuance, custody, taxation, and clearing can flow smoothly, allowing RWA to "move globally."

4. Future on-chain compliance settlements will be based on ISO 20022

Regulators in Europe and the U.S. are adopting ISO 20022 as the reporting standard. Want to enter the banking system? You must use this standard.

Any RWA that does not meet the standard is considered "non-compliant data" in the eyes of institutions. It can be said that ISO 20022 is a prerequisite for RWA to enter the mainstream financial system.

4. The earlier enterprises understand RWA, the better they can adapt to the next round of upgrades in global finance

All these actions point in the same direction: Swift is upgrading to become the universal infrastructure for global digital assets and traditional finance.

Stablecoins have pushed cross-border settlement from "T+2" to "seconds"; RWA has brought asset digitization to a global scale; Swift is pulling both into the same global network. This means that the next round of global financial infrastructure is accelerating into shape.

For enterprises, the earlier they understand RWA, the better they can adapt to changes and seize the window of digital transformation, gaining an advantage in the future competitive landscape. RWA is not just a trend; it is already a reality unfolding in global finance.

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