Education·17 February 2026·4 min read
SWIFT — how money travels between countries
When you send money abroad, the message travels through a network called SWIFT. How it works, in short.
SWIFT is the network through which banks worldwide send each other secure messages about money transfers. It doesn't move the money physically — it sends the payment instructions between banks.
Money as a message
It's the same old idea, taken to a global scale: money isn't carried, it's "communicated". SWIFT has become so central that being cut off from it is now an economic weapon between states.
