Oracle said Monday that its new ledger integration will allow financial institutions to connect their existing payments infrastructure and tokenized deposits to SWIFT’s blockchain-based ledger. Banks will be able to manage conventional and digital payment flows through the same operating framework while retaining control of their own deposit infrastructure.
The announcement adds another layer to a project that is already moving from experimentation toward live banking use.
SWIFT Is Moving Beyond Blockchain Pilots
SWIFT said in July that its ledger was ready for initial deployment, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot transactions using tokenized deposits.
The system is designed to support 24/7 cross-border payments while reducing liquidity constraints created by traditional settlement windows. SWIFT also sees the ledger as infrastructure that could eventually support programmable money and other forms of regulated digital value.
Oracle’s role is important because banks do not necessarily want to replace their existing systems to participate. Instead, its technology is intended to connect established payment infrastructure with the new ledger.
Ripple Is Already Competing for This Market
The shift matters for Ripple because its long-running SWIFT rivalry increasingly centers on the same institutional problem: moving value globally with fewer settlement delays.
Ripple has also moved well beyond XRP-based payments. Its broader institutional finance strategy now spans custody, RLUSD, treasury management and prime brokerage, putting the company deeper into the financial infrastructure banks are now trying to modernize.
At the same time, the relationship between Ripple and legacy banking rails is not purely competitive. Ripple Payments supports SWIFT interoperability, allowing financial institutions to connect blockchain settlement with existing messaging infrastructure rather than abandoning it altogether.
