Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said on Tuesday that he does not expect SWIFT, one of the most widely used platforms for cross-border fiat transactions, to exist in five years.
Miebach was speaking at a panel session on central bank digital currencies (CBDC), as part of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) Blockchain Central Davos conference, which was held alongside the World Economic Forum 2022 in Davos, Switzerland.
Kicking off GBBC’s #BlockchainCentral Davos session on CBDCs with @eva_szalay @FT @YuvalRooz @digitalassetcom @Jbrookslassiter @Digital_Dollar_ @MiebachMichael @Mastercard @BIS_org @DBTreat @Accenture pic.twitter.com/C2fvgy0Bij
—Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) (@GBBCouncil) May 24, 2022
Towards the end of the round table, when the moderator asked each of the panelists if they believed that SWIFT would still be around in five years, Miebach made the audience gasp after answering “no”according to a Cointelegraph journalist who attended the session.
The answer was unexpected given his position at Mastercard, and that panelists who preceded him, including Jon Frost, senior economist at the Bank for International Settlements, and Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of the Digital Dollar project, an organization tasked with exploring a CBDC in the United States, they had answered in the affirmative.
Other panelists who followed Miebach also took the affirmative view, including Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, a data technology company, and David Treat, director of Accenture and co-head of the company’s blockchain business.
Cointelegraph contacted Miebach immediately after the roundtable but was denied any further comment on the matter.
A Mastercard spokesperson later downplayed Miebach’s comments in an emailed statement:
“Let’s clarify the intent of the comment on stage, as it’s not as simple as a yes or no answer. Michael was simply reinforcing what SWIFT had said earlier: their operations continue to evolve. Your current form will not be the same in the future. They are adding more features and not being just a messaging system.”
SWIFT processed 42 million messages a day last year, but transactions on the network can take several days to complete. The company has made efforts to maintain its relevance in the international economic order, especially when it comes to CBDCs.
For it, SWIFT has been exploring the use of CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments since May 2021, when it published a joint paper with Accenture looking at how digital currencies can help cross-border payments.
On May 19, 2022, SWIFT announced its second round of CBDC experiments, collaborating with French IT company Capgemini to explore linking national CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments.
We’re collaborating with @Capgemini to explore how SWIFT can interlink the multiple domestic-based #CBDC networks emerging worldwide to make cross-border payments with #DigitalCurrencies more seamless & frictionless.
Learn more: https://t.co/SgvjDf1dl4 pic.twitter.com/99g99A070H
— SWIFT (@swiftcommunity) May 19, 2022
We are collaborating with @Capgemini to explore how SWIFT can interconnect the multiple country-based #CBDC networks emerging around the world to make cross-border payments with #DigitalCurrencies more seamless and frictionless.
Cointelegraph reporters present at Davos noted that in another panel session titled “Rules of the Road for the Digital Economy,” Miebach discussed the role that regulation can play in reducing unnecessary noise around a nascent technology like cryptocurrencies.
“Not everyone is crying out for regulation, but it cuts down on the noise in the crypto world. I’m optimistic if I actively engage with regulators and have principles,” he said.
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