Citi Completes Landmark Fiat-to-Digital Currency Payment Settlement Workflow Trial with Swift

Successful Trial Advances Digital Asset Interoperability

HIGHLIGHTS

• In a landmark trial, Citi and Swift proved it's possible to settle payments between fiat and digital currencies in a Payment-versus-Payment workflow.
  
  
• The trial demonstrates a powerful hybrid model for interoperability between traditional financial systems and Distributed Ledger Technology networks.
  
  
• The initiative underscores Citi's commitment to delivering innovative, client-centric and scalable solutions for the digital asset ecosystem.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Citi and Swift today announced a landmark trial that proves the feasibility of settling payments between fiat and digital currencies, in a Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) workflow.

The trial demonstrates a powerful hybrid model for interoperability between traditional financial systems and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) networks.

This was achieved by leveraging existing Swift infrastructure, which was seamlessly augmented with institutional-grade blockchain connectors, orchestrators and smart contracts.

"These trials with Swift represent a significant leap forward in understanding and developing infrastructure required to support digital currency transactions," said Ayesa Latif, Head of FX Products. "Our collaboration has demonstrated how existing financial systems can be enhanced with blockchain technology to unlock new levels of speed, transparency, and risk reduction in cross-currency settlements."

Jonathan Ehrenfeld, Head of Strategy at Swift, said: "Swift is uniquely positioned to be the secure and trusted single point of access for seamless connection between the tokenized ecosystems and the established global financial community. This collaboration with Citi proves that we can leverage the reach of our existing network while introducing advanced capabilities required to orchestrate fiat-digital currency PvP."

The initiative underscores Citi's commitment to delivering innovative, client-centric, and scalable solutions for the digital asset ecosystem.

The trials mark a significant milestone towards the development of market-ready solutions that can be scalable, standardized and integrated into global financial systems.

Advancing Digital Asset Interoperability and Mitigating Settlement Risk
The rapid growth of digital currencies, such as tokenized deposits and stablecoins, presents an unprecedented opportunity to revolutionize cross-border payments and financial infrastructure.

For stablecoins, Citi GPS has projected that total issuance market could reach USD1.9 trillion by 2030, driven by expanding use cases and increasing regulatory clarity. While stablecoin transaction volume is approaching USD1 trillion a month according to the report, they predominantly serve as an intermediary. Consequently, recipients of stablecoins – which are primarily US dollar denominated – often choose to exchange them for local fiat currency. 

Despite this demand, settlement between both fiat and digital currencies such as stablecoins remains challenging as they are fundamentally different in nature. Unlike fiat currencies that are typically held within accounts at correspondent banks, digital currencies are held by user wallets on various blockchains and generally do not allow for reversible transactions.

While FX messaging standards, such as MT30X, have been designed to identify digital assets and confirm FX deals on them, they are not meant to instruct synchronized settlement between fiat and digital currencies. The initiative between Citi and Swift aims to address this issue.

How it Works: Novel PvP Approach
Citi and Swift designed a holistic messaging standard capable of tracking the end-to-end process, from trade initiation to settlement confirmation.

This standard uniquely accounts for the distinct data fields and characteristics inherent in fiat-digital currency transactions.

The solution also incorporated an escrow mechanism to overcome the challenge of irreversible blockchain transactions, while ensuring PvP settlement and eliminating settlement risk of both parties.

A central orchestrator further managed the sequenced exchange of messages, coordinating between the fiat and DLT legs to ensure synchronization and finality. In the trial, Citi also utilized test USDC tokens from Circle on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet, to simulate a near-production environment.

Citi and Swift will continue to refine the approach in collaboration with the broader financial community and establish the messaging and operational standards necessary for scalable, institutional-grade digital asset transactions.

*Payment versus Payment (PvP): While this mechanism mitigates settlement risk by ensuring both currency legs settle, the current implementation is not atomic. This is because the workflow spans two distinct technologies, meaning the payments are synchronized but not executed as a single indivisible transaction.

About Citi Citi is a preeminent banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, a global leader in wealth management and a valued personal bank in its home market of the United States. Citi does business in more than 180 countries and jurisdictions, providing corporations, governments, investors, institutions and individuals with a broad range of financial products and services.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | X: @Citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi 

Media Contact:

Ho Kai Feng     kai.feng.ho@citi.com

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SOURCE Citi