Taurus has enabled financial institutions to connect to Swift's blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenised deposits and cross-border payments.
Switzerland-based digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus also integrates Swift smart contracts with its tokenisation platform, Taurus-CAPITAL, and its custody solution, Taurus-PROTECT, on clients' permissioned blockchain infrastructure. The first live clients are expected within days, and the first DLT transactions facilitated through Taurus are anticipated within weeks.
Extending existing infrastructure to tokenised deposits
Taurus’ integration with Swift’s ledger extends existing capabilities to bank-issued tokenised money and round-the-clock cross-border payment use cases. In addition, it is aimed at members of the Swift community seeking tokenisation and wallet management possibilities without prior experience in digital assets.
Swift's shared ledger is designed to provide a management layer for continuous cross-border payments using tokenised deposits that stay on the banks’ balance sheets, a structure intended to preserve the characteristics of commercial bank money. Under this model, digital deposits remain on the issuing banks' own ledgers, while Swift's ledger orchestrates the funds movement between participating institutions, including outside standard banking hours.
This coordination occurs ahead of final settlement. Swift's ledger does not alter Swift's function as a financial messaging network, and settlement continues to run through existing mechanisms, for instance, real-time gross settlement systems. As a result, banks can extend payment availability without replacing current settlement arrangements.
Background: a nine-month rollout since Sibos 2025
Swift announced the shared ledger at Sibos 2025. Developed with more than 40 financial institutions internationally, the infrastructure moved from concept to activation within nine months. Seventeen first-mover banks are currently piloting tokenised deposit transactions on the ledger across various use cases. Swift's network connects beyond 11,500 financial institutions and corporates across over 200 markets, giving the initiative a potential base of participants should adoption expand beyond the initial pilot group.
The move places Taurus among the infrastructure providers positioning themselves around Swift's tokenised deposit initiative, as banks assess how to participate in shared ledger arrangements without disrupting existing settlement relationships. Wider adoption will depend on how the pilot phase involving the 17 institutions progresses over the coming months.
