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⏱ 9 min de lecture

Par La Rédaction
Publié le 11 July 2026

📖 9 min de lecture

Swift confirms its blockchain ledger for 24/7 banking with 17 global banks — the stablecoin war expands to 9 fronts

Publication date: July 11, 2026 | Category: DeFi

The worlds of traditional finance and blockchain have never been closer. While Bitcoin trades at $64,164 on Binance and the Fear & Greed Index sits at 26 — a recovery level — two major movements are reshaping the global financial landscape. On one side, Swift, the interbank network connecting more than 11,000 financial institutions worldwide, confirms the active deployment of its blockchain ledger to enable 24/7 banking, with the participation of 17 global banking giants. On the other, the stablecoin war is intensifying across no fewer than nine active fronts, involving players as diverse as Circle, RealFi, Bitso, Hyundai, Sony Bank, and European regulators. Here’s the breakdown.

Swift shifts into high gear: the blockchain ledger becomes reality

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication — better known by its acronym Swift — has crossed a historic threshold. The organization, a pillar of the international banking system since the 1970s, confirms the deployment of its blockchain ledger dedicated to 24/7 banking. This is no longer a pilot project or lab test: it is a concrete production rollout, involving 17 major international banks.

This deployment marks a profound break from Swift’s traditional model. Until now, financial messages traveled through a centralized system operating during business hours, with batch processing and settlement delays that could stretch over several days. Adopting a blockchain ledger — a distributed ledger technology — makes it possible to shift to continuous operation, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.

The implications are considerable. For participating banks, it means the end of liquidity windows limited by time zones. An Asian bank will now be able to settle a transaction with a US counterpart on a Sunday evening without waiting for markets to open on Monday morning. For multinational corporations, it promises international transfers that are finally fast and predictable, without the bottlenecks that characterize the current system.

Swift’s choice to adopt a blockchain ledger — rather than simply modernizing its centralized infrastructure — sends a strong signal to the entire financial industry. It confirms that distributed ledger technology is no longer a niche innovation reserved for cryptocurrencies: it is becoming a legitimate tool adopted at the highest level of the international banking system.

It should be noted, however, that Swift has not officially communicated on the precise type of ledger chosen — public or private, permissioned or permissionless. Given banks’ natural requirements for confidentiality and control, the deployed solution is likely a permissioned ledger, managed by the participating institutions themselves. The key point is that the underlying infrastructure is indeed that of a blockchain, with the structural advantages it brings: transparency, immutability, resilience, and automation via smart contracts.

The stablecoin war expands: nine active fronts

Alongside this movement from traditional finance, the stablecoin sector is experiencing unprecedented effervescence. One can now speak of a true stablecoin war — a fierce competition to capture payment flows, DeFi volumes, and market share in a rapidly expanding universe. Nine fronts are simultaneously active, reflecting the diversity of approaches and ambitions.

Front 1 — Circle and the US bank charter

Circle, the issuer of USDC, has obtained trust bank approval in the United States. This major regulatory decision transforms Circle: from a simple stablecoin issuer, the company gains banking status, with the rights and obligations that entails. Obtaining a trust bank charter in the US is a rigorous process, involving audits, capital reserves, and prudential supervision. For Circle, it is the culmination of a compliance strategy pursued over several years. For the stablecoin industry, it sets a precedent that could be influential: other issuers are likely to follow the same path to gain institutional legitimacy.

Front 2 — RealFi and the Brazilian USDr

RealFi has launched its public testnet for USDr, a stablecoin pegged to the Brazilian real (BRL). This initiative is particularly interesting because it anchors a stablecoin in an emerging-market currency, whereas the majority of dominant stablecoins are denominated in US dollars. The Brazilian real is the currency of the world’s ninth-largest economy, and a BRL stablecoin could facilitate remittances, international trade, and financial inclusion across Latin America. The move to a public testnet is a crucial step: it allows the developer and user community to test the infrastructure before production deployment.

Front 3 — Bitso and the Hybrid Finance era

Bitso, one of the largest Latin American exchanges, has unveiled the concept of Hybrid Finance. This approach aims to combine the best of traditional finance (stability, compliance, institutional trust) with the best of DeFi (efficiency, transparency, accessibility). In the Latin American context, where inflation and monetary instability are daily realities in several countries, the Hybrid Finance promoted by Bitso could offer concrete solutions to millions of unbanked or underbanked users. The concept still needs to be fleshed out, but it fits within a broader trend of convergence between centralized finance and decentralized finance.

Front 4 — Bitso Conference and regional influence

Beyond its product offering, Bitso is organizing a conference dedicated to Hybrid Finance and stablecoins in Latin America. Such events play an essential role in the ecosystem: they help unite local players, attract regulatory attention, and create a space for dialogue between innovators and traditional financial institutions. The involvement of an exchange of Bitso’s scale in this movement reinforces the credibility of the Hybrid Finance approach.

Front 5 — Hyundai Korea and internal stablecoin transfers

Hyundai becomes the first Korean company to conduct internal transfers using stablecoins. This is not about cross-border payments, but internal flows within the conglomerate — between subsidiaries, suppliers, and logistics partners. Hyundai’s choice is strategic: South Korea is one of the most advanced markets in the world for cryptocurrency adoption, and the fact that a chaebol of this size adopts stablecoins for its internal operations sends a powerful signal. It demonstrates that stablecoins are not merely speculative tools or stores of value, but genuine payment instruments usable in the real economy.

Front 6 — Sony Bank and US approval

Sony Bank, the financial arm of Japanese giant Sony, has obtained approval in the United States for its stablecoin operations. This news is significant on several levels. First, it shows that large non-financial technology companies continue to penetrate the payments sector. Second, the fact that a Japanese bank secures US approval illustrates the global nature of the competition around stablecoins — it is no longer just a US or Chinese affair, but a worldwide issue.

Front 7 — Euro stablecoins and the MiCA framework

In Europe, the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulatory framework is gradually coming into force, opening the way for stablecoins denominated in euros. Several issuers are positioning themselves in this segment, seeing European regulation as an opportunity to create a credible, compliant euro stablecoin market. Competition is open: between crypto-native players looking to expand their offerings and European financial institutions wanting to catch up with US stablecoins, the European front will be one of the most active in the coming months.

Front 8 — The collateral thesis before yield

A thesis is emerging and gaining traction in the industry: it is collateral, not yields, that will decide which stablecoins win the war. This approach, summarized as “collateral, not yield,” posits that the surviving and dominant stablecoins will be those backed by the most solid, liquid, and transparent assets — not those offering the most attractive yields via lending or farming protocols. This thesis is consistent with the general trend of market maturation: after the collapses of 2022 and the subsequent crises of confidence, investors and institutions now prioritize collateral solidity over the promise of dazzling returns.

Front 9 — The intersection of central bank digital currencies and private stablecoins

The ninth front is perhaps the most subtle, but also the most important in the long term: it is the intersection between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins. With the arrival of frameworks like MiCA in Europe and the granting of banking charters to issuers like Circle, the boundary between private stablecoin and official digital currency is thinning. Some countries may choose to rely on regulated private stablecoins rather than develop their own CBDCs. Others, conversely, will see private stablecoins as competition to be strictly regulated. The outcome of this front is uncertain, but it will largely determine the architecture of tomorrow’s monetary system.

Analysis and outlook: toward a fusion of worlds

Taking a step back, two major trends emerge. The first is the mass adoption of blockchain by traditional finance, symbolized by the deployment of Swift’s ledger with 17 global banks. The second is the diversification and maturation of the stablecoin market, which is no longer limited to the USDT-USDC duopoly but extends to new currencies (BRL, EUR), new use cases (internal corporate payments, hybrid banking), and new regulatory frameworks.

These two trends are not independent. Swift’s arrival on the blockchain creates a settlement infrastructure that stablecoins can use. Conversely, the proliferation of regulated stablecoins offers Swift and participating banks modern, programmable, and compliant payment instruments. Convergence is underway.

For French-speaking investors, the stakes are clear. On one hand, Swift’s deployment confirms that the investment thesis in blockchain infrastructure is solid — not based on futuristic promises, but on concrete rollouts involving the world’s largest financial institutions. On the other hand, the stablecoin war demands heightened vigilance: not all projects will survive, and the collateral thesis — collateral, not yield — is a relevant analytical filter to distinguish solid players from opportunists.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, holds at $64,164 while the Fear & Greed Index indicates a recovery at 26, suggesting the market is gradually emerging from extreme fear without yet entering euphoria. This neutral positioning offers a privileged window for analyzing fundamentals rather than being guided by market sentiment.

Swift with its blockchain ledger and the 17 banks, the stablecoin war on nine fronts: 2026 will undoubtedly go down as the year blockchain definitively entered the heart of the global financial system. The revolution is no longer coming — it is underway, and it is being written in code, regulations, and concrete deployments.

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