Shared standards needed to prevent digital assets from fragmenting: Swift

A fragmented financial system could slow the world’s economic growth. 

By 2030, global gross domestic product (GDP) could be one to six per cent lower than expected, depending on how far the financial system splits, according to a report by Economist Enterprise, the business-facing arm of The Economist Group. 

The report, published in 2025 and commissioned by global financial cooperative Swift, found that a less connected world would disrupt cross-border payments, credit and investment. This could reduce capital flow between countries. 

Digital assets would not be spared, said Avalon Ingram, Swift’s Digital Assets business lead. 

Digital assets, like cryptocurrencies, are digital forms of value with distinct usage rights or permissions. They move on distributed ledger technology like blockchains – digital databases that record and verify transactions across decentralised networks. 

The same report found that digital systems often do not work across countries and shut out foreign participants. 

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“Fragmentation is a very real risk. Digital assets can’t seamlessly move (between networks),” Ingram said. 

Digital asset platforms and products are built for different needs. That leaves financial institutions spreading money across platforms that do not connect, she added, splitting the liquidity available.

With so many initiatives emerging, it has also become harder for them to know which platforms to back, Ingram said, keeping some from scaling. 

The future of digital assets lies not in which forms of digital money or platforms take off, she added. It is about whether they can work together to allow value to move across assets, platforms, markets and systems.

Otherwise, she said, fragmentation “could potentially be what ends up killing some of these innovations”.

Building foundations 

While the blockchain technology is no longer in question, Ingram said, the bigger task is building frameworks that participants trust enough to use at scale.

She pointed to Belgium-based Swift’s role in connecting banks through shared standards since 1973. Its messaging network now lets over 12,500 institutions move trillions of dollars daily. 

Digital assets need similar foundations, she said. These include common standards for recording assets and transactions, and clear rules for settlement, risk and disputes.

It would give market participants greater confidence that their money will be handled safely. “Governance is what transforms a technical connection into a true financial market,” she said. 

Today, different financial systems, markets, and platforms operate under different frameworks, Ingram observed. But digital and traditional systems need to work together, not replace each other.

Regulations are also advancing at varying speeds across markets, she added, which could shut those who are further behind. 

The key is to foster agreement, she said, allowing institutions, platforms, markets, and financial systems to interoperate. 

“The opportunity for us now is to create that hybrid ecosystem that is going to be needed in order for all of this to scale,” she said. 

This was produced in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Global Finance & Technology Network.

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