SWIFT, the messaging network that connects 11,000 financial institutions across 200 countries, processed 12.4 billion messages in 2023. For over 50 years, SWIFT has been the backbone of international financial communication. In 2024, SWIFT began testing blockchain-based interoperability solutions to connect tokenised asset platforms across multiple banks and networks. When the company that defines traditional financial infrastructure starts building on blockchain, the technology has moved from experimental to structural. The global blockchain market reached $31.18 billion in 2025, according to Fortune Business Insights, with financial services accounting for 23.52% of the total, the largest industry segment.
What Financial Infrastructure Blockchain Replaces
Modern financial infrastructure consists of layers built over decades, each performing a specific function. Settlement systems move securities and cash between counterparties. Clearing systems net obligations to reduce the number of individual settlements. Payment networks move money between banks and customers. Messaging systems like SWIFT communicate instructions between institutions. Record-keeping systems maintain the authoritative version of who owns what.
Blockchain technology offers an alternative architecture for several of these layers. Instead of separate systems for messaging, clearing, and settlement, a blockchain combines all three into a single shared ledger. When a transaction is recorded on a blockchain, the message, the clearing, and the settlement happen simultaneously. This architectural compression eliminates the intermediaries that sit between each layer and the time delays they introduce.
The practical impact is measurable. Securities settlement on traditional infrastructure takes T+1 in the US (one business day after the trade). On blockchain infrastructure, settlement can be atomic: the asset and the payment transfer simultaneously in the same transaction, completed in seconds. The capital that institutions must hold against unsettled trades, estimated at billions of dollars across the financial system, could be substantially reduced.
Blockchain Infrastructure Deployments at Major Institutions
The institutions deploying blockchain infrastructure are not startups. They are the largest and most systemically important financial institutions in the world.
JPMorgan’s Onyx platform has processed over $700 billion in tokenised transactions since its launch. The platform’s Kinexys (formerly Liink) network connects hundreds of banks for real-time payment verification and settlement. JPMorgan also developed JPM Coin, a digital representation of US dollar deposits used for instant treasury payments between institutional clients.
Citi Token Services, launched in 2023, allows institutional clients to tokenise deposits for instant cross-border payments, automated trade finance settlement, and programmable cash management. The platform operates on a private blockchain and integrates with Citi’s existing banking infrastructure.
HSBC’s Orion platform supports the issuance and trading of tokenised bonds. In 2023, the European Investment Bank issued a GBP 50 million digital bond on Orion, the first sterling bond settled on a blockchain platform. Goldman Sachs’s GS DAP (Digital Asset Platform) supported the issuance of a EUR 100 million two-year digital bond for the European Investment Bank.
North America accounts for 43.80% of the global blockchain market, per Fortune Business Insights, with the US projected to reach $14.26 billion by 2026. The concentration reflects the depth of US capital markets and the scale of the institutions deploying the technology.
Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure
Cross-border payments are where blockchain infrastructure has achieved the most scale in production use. Blockchain-enabled gateways account for 27% of cross-border payment volume, with total blockchain-based cross-border payments estimated at $3 trillion in 2025, growing at 45% annually, according to Coinlaw.
Ripple’s payment network connects over 300 financial institutions across 40 countries for real-time cross-border settlement. The network uses the XRP Ledger to facilitate instant foreign exchange conversion and settlement, eliminating the need for pre-funded accounts in destination currencies (nostro/vostro accounts) that correspondent banking requires.
Stellar, another blockchain network focused on payments, partners with MoneyGram and other remittance providers to enable low-cost cross-border transfers, particularly in corridors serving developing markets. Circle’s USDC stablecoin, issued on multiple blockchain networks, is used by financial institutions for instant dollar-denominated settlement across borders.
The traditional correspondent banking model for cross-border payments involves three to five intermediary banks, each adding fees and processing time. Blockchain-based alternatives reduce this to a single transfer between sender and receiver, settling in minutes. The cost reduction is proportional to the number of intermediaries eliminated: from 3% to 5% per transfer to fractions of a percent.
The Tokenisation Layer
Tokenisation, representing real-world assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, is building a new infrastructure layer on top of existing financial markets. The assets being tokenised include government bonds, corporate bonds, money market funds, real estate, private equity, and commodities.
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund (tokenised US Treasury exposure on Ethereum) attracted over $500 million in assets. Franklin Templeton’s OnChain US Government Money Fund exceeded $700 million. Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, and Centrifuge are building tokenised credit products that connect blockchain-based lending with real-world borrowers.
The infrastructure implications of tokenisation are significant. Tokenised assets can trade 24/7, unlike traditional securities markets that close at 4pm and do not operate on weekends. They can be fractionalised, allowing investors to buy $100 of a Treasury bond or $50 of a real estate fund. They can be programmed, with smart contracts that automatically distribute interest payments, enforce transfer restrictions, and manage compliance requirements.
Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) holds 51.72% of the blockchain technology market by component, per Fortune Business Insights. That share indicates that most institutions are accessing blockchain infrastructure through cloud-based services rather than building their own nodes and networks. The BaaS model lowers the barrier to entry for institutions that want to use blockchain without managing the underlying technology.
Integration With Existing Infrastructure
Blockchain does not replace existing financial infrastructure in one step. It integrates with it. SWIFT’s blockchain interoperability trials demonstrate this: rather than asking 11,000 institutions to abandon SWIFT and adopt a new network, SWIFT is building connectors that allow blockchain-based platforms to communicate through existing SWIFT messaging infrastructure.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) represent another integration point. The digital euro, digital pound, and e-CNY will coexist with existing payment systems, not replace them. Commercial banks will need infrastructure that handles both traditional deposits and CBDC balances, both conventional payments and tokenised settlements.
Eighty-three percent of financial institutions globally are exploring or deploying blockchain solutions, per Coinlaw. The 17% that are not exploring blockchain are increasingly outliers. The infrastructure question is no longer whether blockchain will become part of financial plumbing but how quickly and through which integration pathways.
Private blockchain (used by most institutional deployments) holds 42.47% market share, per Fortune Business Insights, while hybrid blockchain is growing fastest at 45.34% CAGR. Hybrid models, which combine private networks for institutional operations with public network interoperability, are likely to define the mature form of blockchain financial infrastructure. The institutions building for that hybrid future are investing now in technology that will take years to reach full deployment but will fundamentally reshape how financial assets are created, traded, and settled.
