Swift’s blockchain ledger moved Siemens’ money, and Australia would rather settle private tokens than issue its own

Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger carried a corporate treasury payment this week, the first one it has handled [1][2]. The money belonged to Siemens. It left a euro account at BNP Paribas in France and arrived in sterling at HSBC in the United Kingdom [1][2].

The pilot was testing whether a shared ledger can reach across two separate banking systems while the value stays in commercial bank money [2].

Citi is live, and the phase closes in December

Citi processed live transactions on the same ledger on 2 September 2026, the first US bank to do so, working with First Abu Dhabi Bank in the Middle East and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in Southeast Asia [3][4]. DBS and United Overseas Bank are due later this month [3]. The controlled proof-of-concept phase runs from July to December 2026 [3].

Citi published two of its own numbers alongside the announcement. Its 24/7 US dollar clearing serves more than 300 bank clients, and Citi Token Services processes about $1 billion in transactions, a figure the release prints with no period attached [3]. Neither figure went over Swift’s ledger. They describe the size of the business the ledger would have to be good enough to carry.

A phase with a stated end forces a decision in January. Either the ledger goes into production or it joins the shelf of well-documented pilots.

Australia said no to a digital dollar and opened RITS instead

The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Treasury concluded again that there is no clear public interest case for a retail central bank digital currency, holding the position they set in the 2024 white paper [5][6]. Crypto News Australia reports the finding rests on consumer research by Verian Group, which found Australians well served by the payment methods they already have [6].

Alongside that finding, the bank opened a consultation on the role of RITS, its real-time settlement system, and the Fast Settlement Service in a tokenised financial system. The RBA is seeking feedback by 30 October 2026 [7]. It asks four things: how tokenised asset platforms could synchronise with RITS and the FSS for delivery-versus-payment settlement in central bank reserves, how those systems could exchange different institutions’ tokenised private money one for one and against ordinary bank accounts, what account structures and access models would let stablecoin issuers hold central bank reserves, and how tokenised reserves would be issued, distributed and funded [7].

So the RBA will not issue a token to consumers, and is asking the market how it should settle the tokens that banks and stablecoin issuers issue instead.

TabaPay is buying its own bank charter

TabaPay closed $155 million of strategic growth financing on 2 September 2026, led by FTV Capital, and said it intends to acquire Transact Bank, a Denver bank with an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency charter [8][9]. Transact becomes TabaBank. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval [8].

Every payments company that scales runs into the same wall. The sponsor bank sets the risk appetite, the settlement windows and the price, and it can revisit all three on its own timetable. Buying a charter costs money and time, and it turns a technology company into an institution with examiners in the building.

Rodney Robinson, TabaPay’s chief executive, says TabaBank will bring payments and banking under one roof while the company keeps working alongside its network of bank partners [8]. If regulators approve, TabaPay will also be one of them.