- Cosmos Labs now connects bank core systems to Swift’s blockchain ledger.
- IBM, Oracle and Chainlink launched rival connectors the same week.
- Tokenized deposits stay on bank ledgers, with settlement on existing rails.
- Banks do not need ATOM to use the Cosmos product.
Cosmos Labs said on September 28 that banks can use its Tokenization Suite to connect their core ledgers to the Hyperledger Besu environment behind Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger, the tokenized deposit network where 17 pilot banks from six continents, including Citi, HSBC and DBS, have already started running live 24/7 cross-border payments. Oracle and Chainlink made similar announcements the same day, four days after IBM expanded its own offering, turning Swift’s pilot into a contest among vendors to become the layer between legacy bank software and shared ledgers. Oracle, Chainlink and Cosmos Labs all timed their releases to the opening day of Sibos 2026 in Miami, Swift’s annual banking conference, which runs through October 1.
Cosmos plugs Fiserv, FIS and Temenos cores into Swift’s Besu ledger
The suite lets banks launch their own tokenized deposit ledgers, keep them synchronized with core platforms from Fiserv, FIS, Jack Henry, Temenos and Hogan, and link them to Swift, Canton, Partior, Ethereum and Solana. The list of supported cores carries more commercial weight than the list of blockchains, since those vendors run account systems at a large share of the world’s banks.
Co-CEO Maghnus Mareneck described the goal as letting institutions keep their existing infrastructure while adding continuous payments and real-time treasury services. Instant cash sweeps and programmable money flows are on the same roadmap.
Deposits stay on bank books while Swift only moves the obligations
No bank can move customer balances onto a blockchain and switch off its core. That system holds the official account record, feeds regulatory reporting and runs anti-money laundering checks, so any tokenized deposit has to reconcile with it continuously. Swift’s design accepts this constraint instead of fighting it.
Every participating bank therefore needs two bridges: one between its core and its token ledger, and one between that ledger and Swift’s EVM-compatible environment, where signing keys and smart contract logic sit. Vendors are selling into both gaps.
IBM, Oracle and Chainlink shipped rival bank connectors the same week
None of these are exclusive Swift partnerships. Each company is building its own route into the same payment environment, starting from the part of the bank it already serves. Oracle’s route runs through Oracle Banking Payments, which processes tokenized deposit transfers inside the same ISO 20022 workflow as a conventional wire.
Citi, HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS, Wells Fargo, DBS, BNY and MUFG are among the pilot banks, more than 40 institutions helped develop the ledger, and Swift’s messaging network reaches over 11,500 institutions. A bank that picks a vendor for the Swift pilot will likely reuse it for Canton, Partior or a public chain later.
ATOM fell 6.8% on the day Cosmos landed a Swift use case
Crypto coverage often treats Cosmos Labs and the ATOM token as one story. The announcement supports them to very different degrees.
Swift’s ledger runs on Besu, and the deposits sit on bank-controlled ledgers. Cosmos Labs earns its role by selling software, and none of that activity passes through the Cosmos Hub, where ATOM pays fees and secures validators. The market read it the same way: ATOM traded near $1.73 on September 28, down about 6.8%. The token case changes only if Cosmos Labs routes some of this activity through the Hub or IBC, and it has announced nothing of the kind.
Core banking vendors could build the same bridge themselves
Fiserv, FIS, Temenos and Jack Henry control the systems every one of these connectors plugs into. If they ship native Swift ledger connectivity, third-party middleware loses its easiest selling point. Standardization could hurt them from the other side. Banks that implement tokenized deposits differently will need common handling of smart contracts, identity checks and compliance rules, which favors vendors already connected to several networks, though no pilot data has yet confirmed any of their claims.
Swift pilot banks have not named their connector vendors yet
Swift has set no date for general availability or for expanding beyond the 17 pilot banks, and none of the four vendors has named a pilot bank as a client of its connector. Chainlink holds one advantage in that race: in September 2025 it linked Swift’s ISO 20022 messaging to CRE in a live pilot with UBS Tokenize for tokenized fund subscriptions and redemptions.