Tom Zschach
Independent
Tom Zschach argues that artificial intelligence and asset tokenisation have both been held back not by their technology but by the difficulty of connecting them to trusted data and trusted governance.
Why the room needs them.
Tom Zschach spent six years as Swift's chief innovation officer before leaving in 2026 to join a team working where frontier AI meets finance. He argues AI and tokenisation have been held back by a trust gap, not by technology.
The full account.
Tom Zschach was chief innovation officer at Swift for six years, having joined the organisation in January 2020. Before Swift he was chief information officer at CLS Group, and before that chief information officer at LCH.Clearnet, an appointment reported in July 2011. His career also included more than 20 years in investment banking, with roles as head of rates and currencies technology at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as a managing director in technology at Barclays Capital. He holds a degree in computer science and finance from California State University and an executive MBA from TRIUM.
In a 2022 interview with The Stack, Zschach described a Swift platform, built with partners including Red Hat, C3.ai and Kove, to analyse more than 10 billion transactions a year using federated learning models. He said Swift did not do "innovation theatre" and that "Every model has to be explainable." In October 2024 he was quoted as Swift announced live trials, starting in 2025, of digital asset and currency transactions with institutions in North America, Europe and Asia, drawing on a network of more than 11,500 connected financial institutions.
Zschach announced his resignation from Swift in early April 2026. "I'm not retiring. I saw something," he wrote, arguing that artificial intelligence and tokenisation had both been held back by a trust gap rather than by their technology. He said he was leaving to join a team of scientists and entrepreneurs, including researchers from Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, building at the intersection of frontier AI, scientific discovery and institutional finance. In July 2026 he answered claims that Swift would integrate XRP with two words: "Not happening."
At Proof of Talk Paris 2026, where he was billed as Independent, Zschach spoke on 3 June, the second day of the summit, in a panel on the Hecto Main Stage titled "Scaling the Distribution Layer for Tokenised Markets". Johann Kerbrat, Nikhil Sharma and Stani Kulechov also sat on the panel, which was moderated by Henry Jim.
What Tom believes about the next ten years.
Years of shipping.
Lines that keep proving correct.
“I'm not retiring. I saw something.”
“AI has not been slowed by model capability. It's been slowed by the hard problem of connecting models to real humans and trusted data.”
“Every model has to be explainable. That's just been really consistent feedback.”
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- Swift AI transaction-analysis platformDescribed in 2022 as a platform, built with partners including Red Hat, C3.ai and Kove on containerised on-premises infrastructure, to analyse more than 10 billion transactions a year using federated learning models.
- Live digital asset transaction trialsAnnounced by Swift in October 2024 with Zschach quoted, trials from 2025 of digital asset and currency transactions with institutions in North America, Europe and Asia.
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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