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The SWIFT payment system, which processes more than $150 trillion annually across global banking networks, will use Consensys’ Ethereum layer-2 Linea blockchain to build its new real-time crypto payments ledger. The confirmation came from Consensys CEO Joe Lubin during a fireside chat at the Token2049 conference in Singapore.
SWIFT, formally the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, had announced earlier this week that it would collaborate with Consensys and more than 30 major traditional finance (TradFi) institutions on its blockchain-based settlement project.
However, the organization had not disclosed the specific blockchain it would leverage. Lubin confirmed Linea’s selection, noting that SWIFT’s initial announcement intentionally avoided naming the network.
“I believe the sentiment was, ‘thank you for doing this.’ It’s about time to bring the two streams, DeFi and TradFi, together,” — Joe Lubin, CEO, Consensys.
The adoption of Linea by the SWIFT payment system positions it as a direct competitor to Ripple’s XRP Ledger, which has long sought to establish itself as the blockchain of choice for banks. With financial giants including Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Toronto-Dominion Bank already confirmed as participants in pilot trials, SWIFT’s entry could reshape the competitive landscape.
SWIFT’s planned blockchain rail promises instant, 24/7 settlements without intermediaries, while potentially lowering costs, reducing operational errors, and addressing inefficiencies common in cross-border banking. For an institution that already dominates global transaction messaging, the shift could accelerate mainstream financial adoption of blockchain settlement technology.
Linea, developed by Consensys, uses zk-EVM rollup technology, enabling transactions at roughly one-fifteenth the cost of Ethereum while handling around 1.5 transactions per second. According to L2BEAT data, Linea currently has $2.27 billion in total value locked, ranking fourth among Ethereum layer-2 networks, behind Arbitrum One, Base Chain, and OP Mainnet.
Lubin emphasized that beyond serving as a blockchain rail for the SWIFT payment system, Linea has broader implications for how decentralized systems can evolve.
“We will have user-generated civilization and user-generated content on Linea and other places,” — Joe Lubin, CEO, Consensys.
He suggested that Linea enables communities to design infrastructure, rules, and applications from the ground up, leveraging Ethereum’s trustless settlement layer — in sharp contrast with the top-down approach of governments and banks.
The partnership underscores a critical convergence between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi). By selecting Linea, the SWIFT payment system is signaling an openness to blockchain technologies that were once considered disruptive to banks. Instead, they are now becoming embedded in financial infrastructure.
Lubin acknowledged that SWIFT’s CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso deliberately avoided naming Linea in the official rollout, calling it a “soft launch” that was nevertheless welcomed by industry stakeholders.
SWIFT’s embrace of Linea could mark the beginning of a more systemic shift in how global payment systems operate — merging the resilience and trust of established financial institutions with the speed and efficiency of decentralized networks.
