AMINA Bank completed a pilot integrating the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL) to enable instant payments between regulated entities in Switzerland. The program, conducted with Crypto Finance Group and other banks, tested near-real-time settlements while preserving existing regulatory frameworks and core banking processes.
The project integrated GCUL as an orchestration layer on top of AMINA’s banking infrastructure to facilitate 24/7 fiat settlements between Swiss institutions. The approach aimed to reduce operational frictions by connecting the distributed ledger interface to traditional banking flows without altering established processes.
Crypto Finance Group acted as the “Currency Operator”, defining transaction rules, managing participant onboarding and overseeing operational compliance. This governance role structured responsibilities and ensured coordinated oversight among participating entities.
Google Cloud provided the GCUL platform, designed as a high-performance distributed ledger layer that connects to existing banking systems.
Results, challenges and next steps for instant payments
The pilot demonstrated the technical and regulatory feasibility of near-instant settlements without creating new forms of digital money or altering existing compliance processes. Benefits noted include potential cost reductions in cross-border payments and the ability to offer immediate settlements to selected clients without disruptions to current workflows, with AMINA CEO Franz Bergmueller summarizing the approach as: “Innovation and stability are not mutually exclusive.”
The exercise faced regulatory fragmentation, interoperability with legacy systems and operational governance as key modernization challenges. Choosing to keep GCUL as an added layer was intended to mitigate those risks by respecting KYC/AML frameworks and commercial bank processes, and participants highlighted that the technical integration and the defined role of Crypto Finance as currency operator were essential to ensuring compliance.
The roadmap focuses on scaling the platform by incorporating more entities and moving from controlled tests to live operations. The plan includes expanding use cases to cross-border payments, cross-currency settlement and consumer point-of-sale, while Google Cloud executives noted that the cloud-native infrastructure enables deploying financial services without impacting the deposit base or traditional lending activity.
For users and the market, near-real-time settlement reduces counterparty risk and the need for prolonged reserves, while shortening latencies in international payment chains. For service providers, the pilot offers a replicable operational framework to integrate DLT in regulated environments without resorting to off-balance-sheet digital assets.
AMINA’s pilot with GCUL established a technical and governance foundation for instant payments between regulated banks in Switzerland.
