A Disruptive Blockchain-Based Remittance Network Model for Financial Institutions
Xiongfei Zhao, Lai-Un Ieng, Yain‐Whar Si · Blockchain Research and Applications · 2025
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has long served as a critical infrastructure for cross-border payments, but its high fees and slow processing times have prompted calls for improvement. In response, this paper introduces ”Rhythm,” a novel remittance network model that integrates characteristics of both consortium and public blockchains. Rhythm allocates a portion of remittance fees to incentivize participant nodes, such as banks, thereby enhancing network security and supporting fair distribution of mining rewards based on computing resource contributions. To further improve network efficiency, Rhythm partitions each block into Transaction Space for remittance transactions and Reserved Space for instruction messages, with instruction volume dynamically adjusted according to transaction urgency. This design encourages miner nodes to optimize block composition by balancing transaction fees with transaction urgency. We conduct experiments using historical remittance data from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Limited under various scenarios. The results demonstrate that Rhythm provides stable incentives, fair rewards, and improved processing efficiency. These findings suggest that Rhythm offers financial institutions a flexible, efficient, and cost-effective alternative for cross-border payment operations, while also supporting inclusive participation and dynamic transaction prioritization.