Stablecoin, the SWIFT way

SWIFT is reportedly working on its own stablecoin and testing on-chain messaging on Linea.

Both ideas sound absurd.

Can you imagine a stablecoin transfer that takes several days, doesn’t settle on weekends, and comes with a $25–50 fee you only find out after the money arrives - because nobody knows in advance which correspondent banks it will pass through and how much each of them will charge?

That’s exactly how SWIFT transfers work. And there’s no other way they work.

Who would ever want a stablecoin like that?

And let’s not forget - you can’t even send or receive SWIFT payments without going through a bank. If something goes wrong, you also have to deal with the bank to trace the missing transfer.

As for “on-chain messaging”… how does that fit with SWIFT, a system built entirely around banks that are legally bound to protect banking secrecy? On blockchains everything is public. What bank would risk using such a channel?

I’d honestly love to see how they plan to pull this off.
But I doubt we ever will. SWIFT has been “experimenting with crypto tech” for years. Last time, if I recall correctly, they were doing it with Chainlink.

Yes, here it is: their press release from 2023.

Bank transfers and crypto belong to completely different worlds. Banks simply aren’t built for moving crypto. It’s far easier to just send it yourself.

And if you’re holding one coin but your counterparty needs another - you can always swap on rabbit.io. Best rates, no registration.