When the global financial infrastructure meets with blockchain technology, we no longer talk about experiments. We are talking about tectonic shift in the architecture of global payments.
Joe Lubin, CEO of Conszens, officially confirmed what was whispered about in the lobby of the industry for weeks: Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is building its blockchain settlement platform on Linea – L2 Ethereum.
Quiet confirmation of great news
This information did not appear in any official SWIFT press release. On Monday, the organization only announced that in cooperation with Consensys and over 30 financial institutions, Tradfi is building infrastructure for the cryptocurrency payment system operating 24/7 in real time. However, the name of blockchain remained a secret – despite the common speculations indicating just on Linea.
It wasn’t until Thursday, during the discussion panel with Gareth Jenkinson with Cointelegraph at the token2049 conference in Singapore, Lubin dispelled all doubts. He explained that CEO Swift, Javier Pérez-Tasso, intentionally did not mention Linea during an official announcement for the banking sector. It was a strategy of “soft introduction” of large messages.
I believe that the sentiment was: “Thank you to do it.” It’s time to connect these two streams – DEFI and Tradfi
– said Lubin.
Linea – technology and market position
Linea is a L2 scaling solution, developed by Conszens. Uses ZK-EVM Rollup technology, thanks to which it processes about 1.5 transactions per second with fees of only 1/15 costs on the main Ethereum network.
In terms of total blocked (TVL), Linea ranks fourth among all Ethereum L2, from USD 2.27 billion. Only Arbitrum One, Base Chain and OP Mainnet (data from L2Beat) are ahead.
The potential scale is stunning: Swift serves about 150 trillion annually USD in global payments through traditional bank transfers. If even part of this volume moves to blockchain, we are talking about the redefinition of the entire ecosystem.
Giants of banking in the first line
These are not empty declarations or pilotes with small players. One of the largest financial institutions in the world joined the testing of the new SWIFT payment system on Linea:
- Bank of America
- Citi
- Jpmorgan chase
- Toronto-Dominion Bank
It is a signal that the traditional financial sector not only observes blockchain from the side, but is actively involved in its development. What’s more, the new Swift system can become a serious competitor for XRP Ledger Ripple – one of the few clearly profiled blockchain payment platforms for banks.
Why blockchain? Why now?
SWIFT decision is not accidental. Blockchain offers what traditional payment systems cannot guarantee:
- Settlements almost immediate – without waiting for the working hours of banks
- Measure 24/7 – without Christmas and weekends
- No intermediaries – what reduces costs, errors and delays
- Transparency – Each transaction is verifiable
It is these features that make blockchain cease to be a “technological curiosity” and becomes a real alternative to archaic systems from the 20th century.
Vision of Lubin: “Civilization generated by users”
Lubin, however, is not limited to payments themselves. In his vision, Linea is a platform on which “content can be created in a manner generated by users.”
We will have a civilization generated by users and content generated by users on Linea and in other places
– said Lubin.
His idea is based on the use of Trustless Settlement Layer Ethereum, which allows communities to build infrastructure, principles and applications from the bottom to top – in opposition to the TOP -DODN approach characteristic of traditional government and bank hierarchies.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) are already trying to manage entities without centralized leadership, using smart contracts and decentralized voting systems for treasury management and decision making. Although little Dao has achieved a large scale success so far, the development of infrastructure such as Linea can change it.
What does this mean for the industry?
The SWIFT decision announced by Joe Lubin is the legitimacy of Ethereum and his L2 ecosystem in the eyes of institutions that for years treated cryptocurrencies with reserve or even hostility. This is also proof that DEFs and Tradfi must not necessarily be opponents – they can complement each other.
For Linea it is a breakthrough moment. Cooperation with Swift and the largest banks in the world is an exhibition that you will not buy for any money. If the tests are successful, we can be witnesses of mass adoption of blockchain technology in a global financial system.
