SWIFT Processes ~$5 Trillion Daily; Stablecoins and Tokenized Deposits Accelerate Challenges to Cross-Border Payment System

August 30 news, according to CoinDesk, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) currently routes approximately $5 trillion daily for cross-border settlements, with its network covering 11,500 institutions across about 200 countries and regions, yet per-transaction costs remain around 1% to 4%, with settlements typically taking 1 to 5 business days. Facing competition from stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and blockchain payments in speed and cost, SWIFT launched a blockchain ledger last month, with HSBC and Standard Chartered subsequently completing their first real-time transactions through the system, reducing settlement times to seconds. BNY estimates that the stablecoin and tokenized cash market could reach $3.7 trillion by 2030; Citi projects that the tokenized securities market will grow to $5.5 trillion over the same period.