Standard Chartered and HSBC Complete First Live Transaction on Swift’s Blockchain Ledger

Standard Chartered and HSBC have successfully carried out the first live cross border transaction using Swift’s new blockchain-based ledger, showing that their separate tokenized deposit systems can work together. The transaction involved exchanging payment messages through Swift’s ledger, with obligations recorded on both HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s own tokenized deposit system.

How the Ledger Works

Swift’s ledger functioned as a coordination layer, matching and netting the obligations between the two banks before final settlement occurred through existing payment infrastructure. This milestone comes about a month after Swift announced its blockchain ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to test live transactions using tokenized deposits, including major names like Citi, BNP Paribas, BNY, Wells Fargo, UBS, MUFG, DBS, and ANZ.

Built for Round-the-Clock Cross-Border Payments

The ledger is designed to link tokenized deposits issued on different banks’ internal systems, enabling continuous cross-border payments while preserving existing settlement, compliance, and risk management processes.

Part of a Broader Industry Shift

Banks have been steadily expanding tokenized deposit efforts across borders. HSBC extended its Tokenised Deposit Service to the US in April, following earlier rollouts in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, and Luxembourg. Standard Chartered has also taken part in wider testing initiatives, including the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Agorá, which settled roughly $1 million across six currencies using tokenized bank deposits and central bank reserves. Separately, The Clearing House, owned by several major US banks, is reportedly planning its own tokenized deposit network launch in early 2027.