Keywords
Abstract
This research explores the potential of considering digital currencies in place of SWIFT, looking at the innovations of the private sector and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). It has become possible to conduct a thorough analysis of the operational implementations of CBDCs and multi-CBDC platforms, so this research focuses on the relevant factors of cross-border interoperability and the required infrastructure from a systems design perspective — technological architecture, economic efficiency, and law. Initiatives like the digital yuan and mCBDC project provide data from which empirical conclusions about the relative transaction speed and cost of newly developed systems compared to traditional correspondent banking can be drawn. Evidence suggests there are competing approaches within jurisdictions which impact global financial stability and monetary sovereignty. Measuring costs indicates that with digital currencies these are reduced by 65-90% while settlement is practically instant. Policy evaluation reveals gaps in the domain of standardisation and governance, systemic risk, or overarching concerns. With regard to the hypotheses posed by the research questions, it can be concluded that sponsoring a multicentric approach for international relations policy for the future international monetary system is required due to the concern over the geopolitical aftermath, even if the technological alternatives to SWIFT provided within the work are sound.