The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UK Finance or its members.

With 30 leading financial institutions (including HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and Deutsche Bank) involved, this shift moves blockchain technology from the crypto fringes into the core fabric of the global financial system.

Many of those in the coalition have already been innovating with blockchain technology; Societe Generale completed its first repo transaction on a public blockchain in 2024, HSBC launched its Orion platform in 2023 and most notably, J.P. Morgan has been leading the charge for over a decade, and launched its Kinexys platform in 2019. 

While regulatory uncertainty and differences across jurisdictions could complicate the rollout of a global shared ledger, the size, scale, and sway of the collaborating parties mean it’s highly likely that we will see a review or introduction of new regulations to align with these innovations. 

It represents the start of a new operating model that is reshaping how value is recorded, sequenced, moved, and verified around the world. 

It’s Global Finance 2.0; a move towards financial infrastructure that is tokenised, programmable, and continuously connected, and offers a vast array of opportunities for the firms that choose to embrace it. 

The opportunity for UK financial services 

The UK has long led in financial innovations, from electronic trading to more recently, Open Banking. This next phase – blockchain-enabled finance – will be equally as transformative. 

As blockchain infrastructure becomes mainstream, it opens the door to tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs) such as bonds, equities, commodities, and even real estate. Each asset can be represented digitally, traded around the clock, and settled almost instantly. The RWA market is projected by some to exceed $30 trillion in the next five years. 

Blockchain reduces settlement times from days to seconds, increases liquidity in traditionally illiquid markets and cuts costs through automation and interoperability. It provides a foundation for new financial products. 

Blockchain-based systems promise a more open, resilient, and transparent infrastructure that supports innovation in wholesale markets, digital securities, and sustainable finance, while maintaining the UK’s leadership in governance and regulation. 

The privacy challenge 

At its core, blockchain is a decentralised and immutable digital ledger, and it’s inherently transparent. 

Firms cannot expose sensitive trading data, positions, or counterparties to competitors or the market. Nor can they compromise client confidentiality or regulatory obligations around data protection. Without robust privacy safeguards, large-scale adoption of blockchain in financial services simply cannot happen. 

Advances in cryptography now allow transactions to be processed, verified and audited without revealing their details. Privacy-preserving techniques, such as Fully Homographic Encryption (FHE) or Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), enable confidential transfers and the confirmation of compliance and authenticity while keeping sensitive data secure. 

Placing high-value commercial contracts and confidential client positions on a shared infrastructure creates a privacy challenge that goes far beyond traditional cybersecurity. Implementing complex cryptographic measures at scale is no small feat, but the arrival of purpose-built, performant solutions in 2025 means the technology to facilitate (and simplify) this is now here. Privacy enhancing technologies will be the determining factor that allows institutional participation in the next phase of finance. 

The road ahead 

Swift’s move signals the institutional adoption of blockchain in global finance. As the infrastructure evolves, collaboration between regulators, technology developers and financial firms will be essential to ensure that privacy, security, and compliance standards keep pace. 

Performance will be critical; systems must scale to global volumes, but the immediate priority is to embed privacy and trust by design. Only then can the full benefits of blockchain be realised for firms and consumers alike. 

This is the moment for the UK to help define what the future of finance looks like.