After the last articles, I thought I would dive in and look at bit at what this alternative system is..
This is a very general overview, but think I hit the mark enough to get the gist of what it is..
This is a longer posting than I have been sharing, there is a lot of info to go over..
There are many, many layers to the whole financial information, so bear with me in sharing the info I have found. The connecting pieces look like they go back much further than what I have written. Its also quite possible there has been one track or one agenda at play here. At this point it is still up in the air if this is helping to move/evolve things forward.. OR if this is a recycle of the old system.. I have my opinions, but each needs to come to their own conclusions..
It would appear that the inspiration to go in a different direction with the Russians, Chinse, ect. came when the US imposed its legal rights to have a full access of pretty much all data from the SWIFT system, after the 9/11 event. They claimed this was to track terrorists and their activity’s. But was a much bigger agenda going on than that. Collecting data through the SWIFT system went unheeded until it was found out what was happening in 2007. There were legal actions that were taken against the SWIFT system to stop the US data collecting, however nothing was really done, and continues to this day.. One reason this is important, in the type of messaging that SWIFT uses,, SWIFT can see all the details of all transactions it processes.
During that time places like Russia, China, ect decided to go a different direction and create an alternative due to the effects of US sanctions on other countries than its own.. The idea of BRICS was born out of this..
BRICS was officially announced in 2014 and there was talk about them creating an alternative to the western central banking system. This included an alternative to the SWIFT system, which the financial messaging is a key components in cross-border payments. After some time it looked like Russia and China had developed their own payment systems that were separate from the western central banking systems.. However they had been working on other plans..
China has been working on bringing down the US dollar (petrodollar system), and is a main focus. They not only launched the AIIB for making investments and creating projects outside of the central banks.. They created the CIPS. Which gave them the ability to make cross border payments in Yuan, without having to involve the petrodollar. Countries could now do trade in their own currencies. Which China has created the ability to make Oil, Gold, and the Yuan convertible with one another.
The biggest missing piece has been the alternative to the swift system. There has not been a lot of specific data, so am putting together what I can find..
The History piece:
Back in 1997-1998, a company called CyberPLAT came on line. There were basically a company that took care of electronic payment processing within Russia. At some point it looks like they were approached to create the SWIFT alternative, which was used with in the Russian financial system. This was initially named CyberSWIFT, and was used for some time primarily because of the known branding. They based and developed the CyberSWIFT system off the western SWIFT system. They also made their messaging system intractable with the western system and any message could be run through the western system by using the SWIFT messaging standards and the ISO standards for inter-bank messaging. Note: 1998 was the year that Russia started accessing the Western SWIFT system.
Along about 2014 They changed the name from CyberSWIFT to CyberFT. It’s a good branding move, however there this was part of a bigger picture.. While they were putting together the CyberFT, They had been developing different components that are connected to or housed under CyberFT.
Note: 2014 was the year that Russia obtained a seat on the Western Swift board, taking over one of the Hong Kong seats (there are 25 seats total). They created a branch of the Western SWIFT called ROSSWIFT.
The original messaging system the used for the Russian internal banking system was called ED501. They changed this to ED503, which integrated the western SWIFT communication and messaging standards into the existing system. It looks like DE503 was used primarily for internal banking. This was evolved and renamed to SPFS. This version was expanded to the primary inter-bank messaging system. It also had the capacity to link up with the Western SWIFT system. The issues with the SPFS system was that it was very expensive to use, had a lot of overhead with technical issues, and was limited in the times it could conduct message transactions. Although transactions with the Western SWIFT system were possible.
Where things are currently and some speculation.
With the Recent announcement of Russia looking to use its own system called CyberFT.. It means that they already have the systems in place and are moving forward. I cannot imagine they have not already done the foot work and made a solid system. This new system is a huge step forward and will encompass not only the financial messaging aspect (SWIFT replacement). It is also a Legally valid electronic document interchange for use with governments and commercial entities.
It is not reliant in having an internal bank account connected just to one bank. They have the capacity to offer whats called cash pooling, which allows multiple banks to combine their credit and debit positions in various accounts into one giant pool account. Which I take to mean that it is used as a collective type of resource. They are already using this system for Cross-border payments with Russia, Kazakhstan, India, ect.. They also have business in Germany and Austria.
A couple really notable things that are advertised about this system. It is a mesh system as compared to a star network (the current western swift and central banking system). Just in the messageing system they have developed, the provider (CyberFT) may be the one running and managing the system. However they will only know that some kind of transaction has occurred. They will not know the details of the transaction. The details of a transaction stay exclusively with the originator and receiver of a transaction. This is the same theme with the current blockchain. It is half the cost of the SWIFT system to set up, maintain, and send messages. There are also several different encryption options.
They have set this up so if a customer wants to use just the CyberFT system, it will just send those kinds of messages. If a customer wants to use the CyberFT and SWIFT system, messages with the same information will go out to both systems with the same information.
The real deal I am reading into this: It is set up so it can use the old analog systems (Western SWIFT). But also, and even more so, is designed to use the blockchain. Additionally Russia has already announced it has a Hybrid Quantum communication device that it is already tested in its banking system, and is currently rolling out.
The Russian have also announced they have a quantum safe version of the blockchain. This is critical because the blockchain accesses a different type of physics than the Newtonian type most physics that are known accesses. So all this means that they not only have the blockchain (which gives an immutable record). They also have a quantum type of communication (meaning an immutable type of communication.
This type of system, like the CyberFT, is designed for the global transaction needs on the level of nations currencies and everything that comes along with this layer of financial need (transactions, payments, settlements, ect). But also with the non-securities like Land and property titles, individual identity records, ect,, on a global level. When something like this gets going, borders become questionable if they are even needed.
If this is what what it appears,, this is a far more encompassing than anything the old collapsing systems could offer. Corruption, and back room dealings are going to be much more difficult to hide because of the ability to track transactions.
Not only all of this.. But all the small and community based blockchains and cryptos will have the possibility to create a solid platform to play off of. To have some kind of standards for developing, and the space to be creative with coins and tokens. I am with Clif High in that Bitcoin is going to integrate into some kind of global settlement tool.
The implications in this are huge. If there is something to point to that is a tangible game changer.. This would be one of them… I also see the thing that is really going to drive the blockchain forward is in the non-securities, because there is more of a vested interest in having systems that work in something like a record of a land title than in the payment for that same land. And this system fits that aspect, big time.
This is certainly not a one shot solution and trust is not in the cards with the people running these systems. However to move forward something is needed. Having watched the changes taking place, the one theme I am seeing is many of the top level people are seeing themselves as a part of these systems, not separated from them. I also see that there are bigger forces moving projects like this forward and those forces are probably not from here. The only way to find out is to move forward..
Ultimately the question on the table I am sitting with in how things may move forward..
Does the Western SWIFT system have the capacity to handle Blockchains,, or any cryptocurrencies for that matter.
A couple of links for expanded info..
The link is a comparison between what the SWIFT system offered and what the CyberFT system offers.
I am also taking a wild guess that the recent announcement of Venezuela putting together a cryptocurrency for its oil settlements are going to be run through the CyberFT system, and only run through the SWIFT system if needed.. Someone swung one hell of a deal to pull that one off if this is the case….!!
http://cyberft.com/about/comparison
This is a link about the Hybrid Quantum computing network that Is being developed in Russia. Mor than likely the tech is already in use, but it needs to be disclosed and the equipment needs to be installed in existing networks..
http://t8.ru/?p=7762&lang=en
A new platform for trade clearing and settlement out of Canada.. This is important because what kind of Crypto’s will be used for this (just saying Bitcoin for everything is a bit short sighted). Also will the SWIFT system be able to handle these kind of trades and settlements..
http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/cse-aims-to-use-blockchain-to-bring-competition-to-trade-clearing-and-settlement
Finally an article that the banks are not lending to one another, hence the interesting idea of Cash pooling and that would eliminate the hidden element of one bank with another..
https://i-uv.com/something-very-serious-is-happening-with-banks-theyve-almost-stopped-lending-to-each-other/