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When Javier Pérez-Tasso took over as CEO of Swift in 2019, few expected the banking utility giant, known for handling trillions of dollars in transactions between banks every day, to build its own blockchain network just a few years later.
This feature is a part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025 list.
Under Pérez-Tasso’s leadership, Swift has done just that, quietly becoming a behind-the-scenes player in blockchain’s institutional pivot.
Swift — formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication — is more than a five-decade-old banking utility that handles trillions of dollars in transactions between banks every day. It essentially is the plumbing behind international wire transfers and securities trades settlement.
When Swift launched a pilot program in 2022 with Chainlink, connecting global banks to multiple public and private blockchain networks through its existing infrastructure, the industry took notice. Although it was very important news at the time, given that Swift has been experimenting with distributed ledger technology since 2017, it wasn’t the biggest surprise.
However, the “watershed moment” came this year, when Swift announced that it is working with a group of over 30 financial institutions to build its own blockchain-based ledger that can facilitate 24/7 cross-border payments and make them more efficient. This move took the industry by surprise, underscoring that the “blockchain disintermediation” threat is real for the traditional financial world.
What this massive move by Swift proves is that executives and their firms must be able to move, stay nimble, and be open to adapting to new technologies, making bold moves to stay ahead of the competition. For Pérez-Tasso, an avid sports enthusiast, going on the offensive right now aligns with his approach to adapting new technologies to stay ahead of the competition.
In fact, during his appointment in 2019, Swift’s then-chairman, Yawar Shah, said that Pérez-Tasso “will ensure that Swift can continue to build on its tradition of excellence and innovation in support of the global financial community, while also enabling acceleration of its endorsed strategy.”
A financial giant with a history spanning more than 50 years, which provides essential plumbing for almost all traditional financial institutions worldwide, is creating its own blockchain technology? It undoubtedly speaks to Pérez-Tasso’s ability to innovate and make bold moves.
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