SWIFT, the messaging network banks use to coordinate cross-border payments, sits on top of a settlement system with a well-known inefficiency: nostro/vostro accounts. Jake Claver’s video breakdown on the topic argues that the scale of that inefficiency, often cited in the tens of trillions of dollars tied up in pre-funded correspondent accounts, is why multiple blockchain networks, not just one, may end up playing a role in how SWIFT modernizes.
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What the Nostro/Vostro Problem Actually Is
When a bank needs to settle payments in a foreign currency, it typically keeps a pre-funded account at a correspondent bank in that currency’s home country, a nostro account from the funding bank’s perspective, a vostro account from the correspondent’s. That capital sits idle, earning nothing, purely so the payment can clear quickly when needed. Multiply that across every currency pair every bank needs to touch, and you get a large amount of capital locked up just for liquidity management rather than being productively deployed.
Why Multiple Networks, Not One
The video’s argument is that no single blockchain covers every use case SWIFT would need: XRP and the XRP Ledger are built around fast, low-cost settlement between currencies; Hedera focuses on enterprise-grade governance and throughput; Chainlink provides the oracle and interoperability layer that lets different networks and traditional systems talk to each other; Corda is designed specifically for permissioned, bank-to-bank use cases with privacy controls built in. A payments backbone the size of SWIFT’s network doesn’t need to pick a winner among these so much as figure out which layer handles which job.
What to Take From This, Not What to Assume
This is a thesis about infrastructure design, not a confirmed SWIFT roadmap or a prediction about what any of these tokens will be worth. Treat it as a framework for understanding why banks and infrastructure providers keep experimenting with several blockchain networks in parallel rather than standardizing on one. For the full argument, including how each network’s specific tradeoffs map onto SWIFT’s requirements, watch the full video breakdown, and look at SWIFT’s own materials on its modernization efforts for the institutional side of the story.
Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
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