Swift is Sidestepping Blockchain as Part of its Cross-border Payments Rebuild.

CoinDesk reports an interesting development at SWIFT, the banking industry’s global payment platform.  Going against the global trend of financial institutions (who believe blockchain tech could make cross-border payments faster and cheaper), Swift wants to show that it can be done using more traditional methods.

The interbank payments platform launches today its GPI initiative, an application layer built on top of the existing system that aims to increase speed and transparency. Absent from the technology is any integration with blockchains or distributed ledgers.

CoinDesk spoke to project director Wim Raymaekers, who emphasized that one of the main advantages of the GPI upgrade is that it is based on technology that is available now, that has been exhaustively tested, and that is relatively inexpensive to implement.  That does not mean, he explained, that Swift is not interested in the blockchain potential. Other trials are underway and are still on schedule to move forward.

Source: CoinDesk.com