Which Cryptocurrencies are ISO 20022 Compatible?

What is ISO 20022?

ISO 20022 is an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard for exchanging electronic messages on payments data between financial institutions across the world.

ISO 20022 significantly improves the quality of payment data and is faster and cheaper to use than the current system. The improved and increased data on payments could be used to spur innovation and value-added services to those providing payments.

ISO 20022 Adoption

In the US the Federal Reserve Board has stated that its members will adopt the ISO 20022 standard by late 2023, while the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has said that it plans to give its members the option to use the new standard from November 2022.

The adoption of ISO 20022 standards will be important for the usability and interoperability of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) once rolled out.

Which cryptos are ISO 20022 compliant or in the process of becoming compliant?

There has been quite a lot of confusion and speculation about which cryptocurrencies are “ISO 20022 cryptos”, and some articles and claims include quite dubious sources (or in some cases no sources at all)!

Let’s have a look at some of the cryptos that are ISO 20022 compliant, or are likely to be based on partnerships or citations.

Ripple (XRP)

In 2020 Ripple, the company behind XRP, became the first “distributed ledger technology (DLT) focused” member of the ISO 20022 Registration Management Group, as well as the Standards Evaluation Group for Payments.

This was a natural progression for Ripple, as XRP is the most prominent payments-focused cryptocurrency, and it has partnered with banks in facilitating faster cross-border payments and instant settlements.

A number of high-profile institutions use Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service to avoid costly pre-funding for cross-border payments. ODL uses XRP to “bridge two currencies in under three seconds, ensuring payments are quickly sent and received in local currency on either side of a transaction”.

Xinfin Network (XDC)

XDC is a Singapore-based, delegated Proof-of-Stake blockchain, which focuses on global trade finance.

XDC appears to be ISO 20022 compliant. According to its website, Xinfin states that its private network “lets any kind of enterprises connect their legacy systems with a Blockchain Network using the XDC Protocol and messaging compatible with ISO 20022 standard.”

Xinfin partnered with R3, a consortium of over 200 financial institutions, in order to act as a bridge and host dApps on the Corda Marketplace. Corda is “compatible with existing and emerging regulation such as ISO 20022“.

It’s also of note that former head of Corporate & Trade at SWIFT, Andre Casterman, joined Xinfin as an advisor in 2020.

Algorand (ALGO)

While Algorand has not explicitly stated whether it is ISO 20022 compatible, there are a number of reasons to believe that it will be compliant when the standard is officially implemented.

Algorand is a member of the Digital Payments Institute (along with SWIFT, Mastercard, and others), which produced a publication entitled “The Future of Payments”. The paper acknowledges the importance of ISO 20022 for a properly functioning and interoperable global payments infrastructure.

The paper states in particular:

“Improved data standards, notably ISO 20022, will ease the flow and hand-off of data across the global payments ecosystem and facilitate automation… Industry-wide migration to ISO 20022 messaging for all cross-border and cash management messages is scheduled to commence from the end of 2022”.

Stellar Lumens (XLM)

Like Algorand, Stellar doesn’t appear to have explicitly stated whether it is ISO 20022 compliant. However, it does have close ties with IBM (which is compliant according to their website).

IBM uses the Stellar Blockchain for its cross-border payment system “IBM World Wire”, while it uses XLM as the bridge currency.

ISO 20022 Cryptos: Future Developments

We’ll try to update this list as more information comes to light regarding which cryptos are ISO 20022 compliant (which is likely to be clearer as the implementation date becomes closer). In the meantime, if you think we’ve missed any ISO 20022 cryptocurrencies, please let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: The author(s) may have investments in some or all of the cryptos referred to.