SWIFT is actively advancing its distributed ledger initiative, establishing a foundational blockchain-based infrastructure that will reshape how financial institutions operate. The consortium now encompasses over 30 major banks collaborating to develop and implement this ledger system at scale.

This raises an intriguing question for the crypto market: can SWIFT's institutional-grade DLT effectively compete with established players like XRP, XLM, and ETH?

The comparison cuts deeper than it appears. While SWIFT's ledger targets traditional banking interoperability with regulatory compliance at its core, networks like Ripple (XRP) have been optimized for cross-border settlement, Stellar (XLM) focuses on financial inclusion and remittances, and Ethereum (ETH) offers a programmable, multi-asset ecosystem. SWIFT's advantage lies in institutional trust and existing banking relationships. Its challenge: breaking free from legacy system constraints and proving agility comparable to purpose-built blockchain networks.

The outcome could reshape financial infrastructure—not necessarily winner-takes-all, but rather segmentation by use case.