The Impact of ISO 20022: The Day Cryptocurrencies Become the "Common Language" of Finance

ISO 20022 is not a new concept that suddenly gained attention. Rather, it is now intersecting with the world of cryptocurrencies as a “common language” that the global financial infrastructure has been seeking for many years. Recently, traditional projects like XRP, XLM, and HBAR have shown consecutive surges, and this is largely related to their response to the international standard ISO 20022.

What is ISO 20022: The Reality of the International Standard in Finance

ISO 20022 (officially: Financial Services - Universal Financial Industry Message Scheme) is an international financial communication standard developed by ISO’s technical committee TC68. Its foundation was established in 2004, and since then, it has become a unified framework for message exchange among financial institutions worldwide.

Technically, ISO 20022 is not just a communication protocol but a set of rules that formalize, standardize, and enable automated processing of financial data. It is adopted across nearly all financial sectors, including payments, securities trading, trade finance, card payments, and foreign exchange.

Revolutionizing International Remittances: Why is ISO 20022 Necessary?

Imagine the traditional process of international remittance. When you send $1,000 to a friend abroad, the funds pass through multiple banking systems. Each financial institution sends and receives messages in its own format, communicating in different “dialects.”

Your bank sends instructions in its own format → SWIFT translates it into a standard format → intermediary bank processes it in another format → the recipient bank converts it back to its own format

During this conversion process, critical information such as the purpose of payment or invoice number can be lost. It’s like a game of telephone, where the reliability and integrity of information degrade over time.

After adopting ISO 20022, all financial institutions will use the same “language.” The message length can be expanded from the original 140 characters to up to 9,000 characters, data structures follow a unified template, and machines can directly understand and process the data. It’s an evolution from Morse code-like telegram communication to structured electronic mail formats.

Status of Cryptocurrency Projects’ Response: Comparison of ISO 20022-Compatible Digital Assets

If financial institutions use cryptocurrencies compliant with ISO 20022, international remittances will become seamless. Furthermore, regulators may become more tolerant of tokens that conform to the ISO 20022 standard, potentially leading to greater integration into the global financial settlement system.

XRP (Ripple)

XRP is the only cryptocurrency project officially certified for ISO 20022. RippleNet fully integrates the ISO 20022 messaging standard and offers real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems. With partnerships with over 200 financial institutions, cooperation with CBDCs of multiple countries, and the development of direct payment channels with major banks, progress in implementation is assured.

XLM (Stellar)

Stellar has unofficial certification but technically supports ISO 20022. Through a strategic partnership with MoneyGram, it collaborates with over 350 banks to enable international remittances and asset tokenization.

ADA (Cardano)

Cardano supports ISO 20022 via the Atala PRISM identity solution and is building government-level collaborations with African countries, including Ethiopia.

Other Projects

QNT (Quant) with its Overledger platform, ALGO (Algorand), HBAR (Hedera), IOTA, XDC Network, and several others are progressing with ISO 20022 support at various levels.

Certification vs. Implementation: Understanding the Essence of ISO 20022

There is often debate that “only XRP has official certification.” However, ISO 20022 is fundamentally an open technical standard, and there is no such thing as an “official certification” mechanism. Just as HTTP is fundamental to the internet, multiple projects support this standard at different technical levels.

What matters is not formal certification but the quality of implementation. Ripple’s XRP making tangible progress in international remittances, Stellar collaborating with MoneyGram, and Cardano advancing projects in Africa—all these projects are actively solving real-world problems.

Long-term Outlook for the Cryptocurrency Market

As support for ISO 20022 advances, the market is shifting from short-term speculation to long-term value creation. It’s not about whether a project has received “official certification,” but about understanding what problems the project aims to solve, whether its solutions are feasible, and if it holds a competitive advantage in the current market environment.

When facing long-term narratives, investing with the mindset of quick profits through short-term speculation can lead to significant penalties from the market. The increasing maturity of the crypto market suggests a transition from short-term focus to long-term thinking.