SWIFT has activated a blockchain ledger across its banking network, with 17 banks testing live payments built on tokenized deposits. The pilot gives participating institutions a mechanism for moving bank-issued digital deposits across the network — an arrangement that, as described in the source report, leaves XRP outside the settlement framework.

SWIFT introduced the ledger together with Consensys at the Sibos conference in September 2025. Its design was finalized by March 2026, and on July 9 SWIFT announced the system was ready for initial testing. The 17 participating banks span six continents and include Citi, HSBC, UBS and Standard Chartered.

How the Ledger Works

Tokenized deposits are digital representations of traditional bank money, issued by the participating banks themselves. The ledger maintains a continuous record of what each bank owes the others, enabling transactions to proceed during nights and weekends. According to the source this could allow businesses to pay overseas suppliers on a weekend rather than waiting until Monday.

Pilot Transfers Rely on Bank Deposits, Not XRP

Several pilot transactions have already taken place. Standard Chartered and HSBC executed what the source describes as the first interbank transfer in August, and First Abu Dhabi Bank and Citi moved U.S. dollars across the platform in September.

Those transfers settled with tokenized deposits rather than a bridge currency such as XRP — the value moved between the banks in their own issued deposits instead of an outside asset. The source reports that neither SWIFT nor the pilot banks have included Ripple or the XRP Ledger in their plans, and it therefore describes no role for XRP in the ledger's current setup.

Infrastructure providers have moved to support the new system. Chainlink announced on September 28 that it can help banks connect their existing systems to the SWIFT ledger while retaining their own signing keys — the keys that authorize payments. The source says keeping control of those keys gives banks greater command over transactions. IBM also introduced an adapter on September 24 that lets banks connect using standard payment messages. Both integrations address the same practical question: how to reach the new ledger from the systems and message formats banks already run. The report does not state that banks must hold LINK tokens to use Chainlink's connection.

SWIFT's Existing Network Remains in Place

SWIFT reports that 75% of transactions on its network are completed within 10 minutes, with many finishing in seconds. The new ledger adds round-the-clock movement of tokenized deposits on top of that existing capability. SWIFT also connects more than 11,500 institutions — a network footprint that any replacement would need to overcome.

Market attention has shifted between the two assets in recent weeks. The source notes that traders turned to Chainlink as its price rose 30.6% over the past month to about $15. It reported XRP at $1.50 on September 29, 2026, roughly 59% below its July 2025 peak of $3.67. Those figures describe market prices at the stated times and do not establish how either asset will perform.

For XRP to become an alternative within this banking arrangement, banks would need to reconsider their participation in the SWIFT network. The source says current indications show banks choosing to remain within that framework. It also reports that Ripple's business had reached a $50 billion valuation independently of the SWIFT network. Any change would depend on SWIFT or a pilot bank recognizing the XRP Ledger as a connected network or accepting XRP as a bridge asset.

For now, the pilots continue with tokenized bank deposits. The source report states that their continued reliance on tokenized deposits would keep XRP outside the system unless participating institutions change course. The asset used to settle each new pilot transfer is therefore the clearest sign of whether that happens.