Global finance is being silently decreed on two fronts as traditional banking infrastructure and digital payment infrastructure each make moves to cement their ground in tokenized payments and consumer wallets.
On July 17, SWIFT, the bank-owned messaging network used by more than 11,500 financial institutions, announced its blockchain-based ledger is now ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents, North and South America, Europe, Aisa, Africa, and Oceania.
The list of global banks includes US-based Citi Bank, UK-based HSBC, Swiss-based UBS, US-based Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), Australia-based Australia and New Zealand Ground Limited (ANZ), Singapore-based Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), and Uk-based Lloyds.
In parallel, and separately, Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International also announced a joint offer to acquire PayPal for $60.50 a share, valuing the payment giant at more than $53 billion. The valuation is a premium to PayPal’s closing price the prior Tuesday.
Stripe and PayPal expanded digital payment infrastructure across global finance, using blockchain settlement, stablecoins and consumer wallets to connect banks, businesses and users directly while reducing reliance on older intermediaries and separate financial systems.
Blockchain is no longer limited within the boundaries of testing, as banks and fintech companies compete to control how money travels through finance.
Digital Payment Giants Compete for Control
The global messaging cooperative, Swift, is racing alongside Stripe to control the infrastructure behind tokenized payments.
Swift said its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use, after 17 global banks completed pilot work running live transactions on the network. More than 40 institutions now support the tokenized deposit cross border network for faster settlement.
Swift’s global payment infrastructure connects more than 11,500 institutions worldwide and handles messaging trillions of dollars in cross-border payments annually. Stripe then made an unsolicited $53 billion bid for PayPal, combining merchant services and consumer wallets through a broader digital payment distribution platform.
“It’s a race to control the next generation of global payment infrastructure,” said Ilies Larbi, Founder and CEO of Ouinex.
A combined company could strengthen its digital payment infrastructure by moving more transactions through its own systems and relying less on Visa and Mastercard. PayPal operates PYUSD, a Paxos-issued US dollar stablecoin, strengthening its place in the online payment ecosystem linking traditional money with digital assets.
Jason Li, co-founder of Solayer and CEO of MPCVault, said consumer reach is now more valuable than issuing another token.
“Getting 400 million people to actually use a stablecoin is what costs $53 billion,” Li said. “Stripe already has the issuer, the chain and the merchant side. What it’s buying is the consumer wallet.”
The proposed deal would therefore expand Stripe’s digital payment infrastructure while giving it direct access to PayPal’s more than 439 million active accounts.
One Wallet Could Replace Separate Accounts
The same shift is changing the digital payment ecosystem for ordinary users. Adrian Cachinero, co-founder of Steakhouse Financial, believes younger generations may rely on digital wallets and decentralized finance (DeFi) services instead of bank accounts.
“My daughter, she’s one and a half years old, and I think she might never need to open a bank account in her life,” Cachinero said. “We’re building products for that generation.”
Steakhouse Financial manages more than $4 billion in DeFi vaults. These smart contracts form part of the payments infrastructure that lets users deposit stablecoins, earn yield and retain control of their assets.
Cachinero does not expect banks to disappear. Instead, he believes the online payment ecosystem will make digital savings, payments and investments feel normal to people raised online.
Meanwhile, Naveen Mallela, Standard Chartered’s global head of payments, described a wallet linked to a person’s identity. It could hold cash, tokenized deposits, stablecoins, crypto and funds within one digital payment ecosystem.
Banks would still provide money, controls and security, but customers could manage services through one interface. This could extend global payment infrastructure beyond separate banking and brokerage accounts.
Fintech companies will also need the infrastructure needed to launch and scale Crypto payment solutions globally as more firms issue stablecoins and move systems onto blockchain networks.
Now, the wider competition is about ownership of the digital payment infrastructure connecting wallets, merchants and settlement systems, not simply creating new tokens. Companies that combine reach, trust, and technology may lead to this change.
Their success will depend on building digital payment infrastructure that works for both businesses and consumers in global finance.
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