Taurus Co-Founder: Banks Need Three-Layer Infrastructure to Access Swift Blockchain Ledger

Lamine Brahimi, co-founder and managing partner of crypto custody and tokenization firm Taurus, said in an interview with CoinDesk that banks looking to access Swift's newly launched blockchain ledger need three conditions: their own permissioned chain to interact with the Swift ledger, wallet capabilities, and tokenization and smart contract capabilities to integrate Swift's smart contracts. He noted this means the Swift ledger is not a replacement for banks' internal systems, but rather serves as an orchestration layer to help institutions achieve cross-border, 24/7 transfers of tokenized deposits, with final settlement still occurring through existing arrangements—banks must still hold and manage tokenized deposits, digital asset wallets, and related smart contracts themselves. Swift said in July that 17 banks were preparing real-time transactions of tokenized deposits; in August, HSBC and Standard Chartered completed the first real-time interbank transaction, followed by DBS and Citi completing a weekend cross-border dollar payment, with settlement time reduced from up to two business days to minutes. Brahimi said the additional infrastructure should not be viewed as a flaw in Swift's design—the ledger is still an early-stage product, but it offers banks a choice between existing payment rails and tokenized deposits that can move around the clock. Taurus announced in August that it had completed Swift integration, providing all three layers of capability through a single platform. He added that tokenized deposits saw minimal usage before Swift's announcement, primarily adopted by larger global banks such as JPMorgan. The Swift model keeps deposits on bank balance sheets, distinguishing it from stablecoins issued outside the banking system.