Global Messaging Cooperative Declares Shared Ledger 'Ready for Initial Use', Beginning With Tests to Determine Whether It Can Be Used

RAPID, the member-owned interbank messaging cooperative best known for moving instructions about money rather than money itself, has announced that its blockchain-based shared ledger is ready for initial use. Seventeen banks across six continents will take part in live tests of round-the-clock cross-border payments using tokenised deposits, a form of commercial bank money that is identical to existing deposits, but on a ledger.

"This is a foundational moment for the industry," said a sentence-release officer from the Department of Optics. "We are moving beyond talking about always-on settlement and into a structured programme of talking about it with a ledger present."

Ready for initial use

The ledger was announced last September and has spent the intervening ten months becoming ready for initial use. Initial use will consist of live tests. The live tests will inform a pilot phase. Findings from the pilot phase will be consolidated into a report, expected next year, which will assess readiness for a broader pilot. Production volumes are anticipated once assurance is achieved. Assurance requires further assessment.

Participating institutions include BeigeBank, NordicTrust, RhineLedger Bank and OrangeLion Bank, alongside thirteen further institutions described in the announcement as "additional banks". The announcement runs to four pages, uses the word "milestone" nine times and the word "interoperability" fourteen times, and does not use the word "when".

"Customers keep asking why a cross-border payment takes three days," one executive said. "The honest answer has always been that our systems close at five. We are now building a system that never closes, which will allow us to give a different answer."

Continuous settlement, business-hours oversight

The cooperative confirmed the shared ledger will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on every day of the year. Participating banks confirmed that the teams who reconcile it will operate Monday to Friday, nine to five, local time.

A senior compliance professional welcomed the development. "Settlement will now be able to occur on a Saturday," they said. "Anything unusual about that settlement will be identified on the Monday, escalated on the Tuesday, and resolved within existing service levels."

Tokenised deposits explained

Industry observers noted that tokenised deposits allow banks to embrace blockchain technology without involving cryptocurrency, volatility, or change. "The deposit is the same deposit," one observer explained. "The account is the same account. The difference is that it is now on a shared immutable ledger, which several working groups are confident they will eventually be able to explain."

The cooperative said member banks had shown "unprecedented alignment" on the initiative, with all seventeen agreeing that the future of cross-border payments is instant, transparent, and available at any hour. A framework for agreeing when that future will arrive is under development.

The first live test is scheduled for a Tuesday.