HSBC and Standard Chartered have completed the first live cross-border bank-to-bank transaction on Swift‘s blockchain-based ledger, exchanging payment messages that were recorded as TOKENIZED DEPOSIT obligations on both HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s own tokenized-deposit infrastructure, with Swift’s ledger acting as a secure orchestration layer to match and net the obligations before final settlement ran through existing payment systems. The transaction marks a milestone in the use of tokenized deposits by regulated financial institutions and is part of a pilot involving 17 banks across six continents that Swift announced was ready for initial use in July 2026, targeting 24/7 payment availability and better liquidity efficiency as banks compete with the speed of stablecoin rails. Citi‘s head of digital assets Debo Sen, whose bank moves $6 trillion per day and is among Swift’s largest users, noted that Swift’s network effect across 11,500 institutions uniquely positions it to drive tokenized deposit interoperability at institutional scale.
HSBC, Standard Chartered Execute First Live Banking Transaction on Swift’s 24/7 Ledger
