Global banking payments system Swift plans to launch a new platform in the next 12 to 24 months to connect central bank digital currencies currently in development to the existing financial system, the institute told Reuters.
The news, which would be one of the most significant to date for monetary authorities’ nascent digital currency ecosystem given Swift’s key role in global banking, will likely be tailored to the launch of the first major currencies.
Around 90% of the world’s central banks are now exploring digital versions of their currencies. Most don’t want to be left behind by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but are grappling with the technological complexities.
Swift’s head of innovation, Nick Kerigan, said its latest trial, which lasted 6 months and involved a group of 38 members from central banks, commercial banks and settlement platforms, was one of the largest collaborations global digital currencies from BC and “tokenized” assets to date.
Its goal was to ensure that digital currencies from different countries could be used together, even if built with different underlying technologies or “protocols”, thus reducing the risks of payment system fragmentation.
The experiment also demonstrated that they could be used in highly complex foreign currency transactions or payments and potentially be automated to speed up and reduce costs in the process.
Kerigan said the results, which also showed that banks could use their existing infrastructure, were considered a success by those who participated and gave Swift a timeline to work towards.
“We are looking at a roadmap for production (launch as a product) in the next 12 to 24 months,” Kerigan said in an interview. “It’s moving from the experimental phase to something that’s becoming a reality.”
Source: Terra
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