SWIFT Will Build Its Crypto Payments Rail on Linea — Confirms ConsenSys’ Joe Lubin

Major news has been confirmed by Joe Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys, at the Token2049 conference in Singapore: SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)—the backbone network that handles over $150 trillion in global interbank transfers annually—has chosen Linea, the Ethereum Layer-2 network developed by ConsenSys, as the foundation for its newly announced blockchain payment settlement platform.

SWIFT had previously announced a collaborative effort with ConsenSys and over 30 leading Traditional Finance (TradFi) institutions, including giants like Bank of America, Citi, and JPMorgan Chase, to develop a real-time, 24/7 crypto payments system. However, the specific blockchain was not disclosed until Lubin confirmed the selection of Linea.

Linea is a scaling-focused Layer 2 that leverages advanced zk-EVM rollup technology, allowing it to process transactions much faster and at a fraction of the cost—about one-fifteenth the fees—of the Ethereum Mainnet. Linea is currently one of the largest Ethereum Layer 2s by Total Value Locked (TVL). SWIFT's decision to build on this blockchain is a monumental victory for the Ethereum ecosystem and Layer-2 technology, signaling deep institutional trust.

Lubin stated that integrating DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and TradFi is overdue and that the sentiment among the banking sector was largely positive. This move positions SWIFT's new infrastructure as a serious competitor to existing blockchain-based payment systems tailored for banks, most notably Ripple's XRP Ledger. The involvement of such large financial institutions in piloting this rail on Linea clearly demonstrates that the future of cross-border payments is moving onto blockchain, promising to drastically reduce costs, errors, and delays inherent in the legacy financial system.

Concluding Summary (Additional Insight)

SWIFT, the world's largest financial messaging system, choosing an Ethereum Layer-2 (Linea) tells us one thing: big institutions need speed and cost-efficiency without sacrificing Ethereum's proven security. This is a critical practical endorsement that boosts confidence for crypto investors like us, signaling that blockchain technology is becoming the core infrastructure of global finance. This adoption wave is certain to benefit the overall market in the long term.