Banks have spent years experimenting with blockchain. Some experiments stayed inside innovation labs. Some became pilots. And a few made their way into real payment, settlement, and collateral systems.
But the question is, what kind of blockchain can a bank actually use?
A bank cannot simply launch a public network, expose every transaction to the world, and hope that regulators will be fine with it. It needs privacy, known participants, predictable costs, fast settlement, and a system that can work with the infrastructure already in place.
This is where Hyperledger Besu comes into the picture.
Besu gives banks the familiar technology of Ethereum along with the controls required for a private and permissioned network. Swift is using a Besu-based architecture for its shared ledger. Citi runs its token services on Besu. DTCC uses it for collateral management. Central banks have also used it for CBDC programs and live DLT trials.
Well, before we go deeper into understanding why all of them are choosing Besu, let us first understand what Besu actually is.
If not a blockchain, what actually is Hyperledger Besu?
Hyperledger Besu is not a blockchain by itself.
It is an open-source Ethereum client written in Java. In simple words, it is software that allows a computer to become a node and participate in an Ethereum-based network.
Besu can be used in two different ways. It can run as a node on public Ethereum, or it can be used to build a private and permissioned blockchain where every participant is known and approved.
Consensys contributed Besu to the Hyperledger community in 2019. It now sits under LF Decentralized Trust and is available under the Apache 2.0 license. On the public chain side, Besu runs roughly 16 percent of Ethereum mainnet execution clients. On the private side, it powers globally significant networks built for banks, central banks, and market infrastructure providers.
So, yes, public Ethereum and a private Besu network can be made to sit on two different chairs across the table. They use the same execution model, but they do not follow the same rules for participation, visibility, fees, or consensus.
But why does Ethereum compatibility matter to a bank?
Banks do not select a blockchain platform only because it can process a large number of transactions.
When investment banks were asked what mattered most while selecting a tokenization platform, interoperability with existing systems, regulatory and legal alignment, and ecosystem participation each received scores of around 60 percent. Scalability and speed to market barely registered by comparison, according to the 2026 SODA Tokenization at Investment Banks Survey.
Besu fits those three major requirements quite well.
Since it follows the Ethereum specification, smart contracts written in Solidity can run on it. Developers can use familiar tools such as Hardhat, Foundry, OpenZeppelin, and JSON-RPC interfaces. Common token standards such as ERC-20 and ERC-1400 also work with it.
Why is that important?
Well, a bank does not have to build everything from scratch or hire developers for a language used by only one platform. It can work with a large Ethereum developer ecosystem and reuse tools that have already been tested across thousands of applications.
A smart contract tested on a private Besu network can also be moved to a public or public-permissioned chain with limited rework. This gives a bank room to change its blockchain strategy without throwing away all the work already done.
The architecture is modular too. Consensus mechanisms can be changed, and the plugin system supports custom transaction checks and monitoring. As regulations and business requirements change, the network can change with them.
Besu-based networks can also connect with systems outside their own ledger. For example, it can be integrated with the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. This is helpful because being a permissioned chain doesn’t mean its requirement to connect with the wider networks ends.
How does Besu keep a banking network private?
Public blockchains are transparent by design. Every node can see the transactions recorded on the ledger.
That works for an open network, but it creates a serious problem for a bank. Financial institutions must follow banking secrecy laws, data protection rules such as GDPR, and contractual requirements that prevent sensitive customer and transaction data from being exposed.
So privacy and confidentiality are a basic requirement for institutional adoption. A private permissioned network is better placed to meet these requirements because access controls can be built into the ledger itself.
Besu provides permissioning at two levels.
- The first is node-level permissioning. It decides which machines are allowed to join and communicate with the network.
- The second is account-level permissioning. It decides which cryptographic accounts can submit or sign transactions.
These rules can be placed in local configuration files or managed through on-chain smart contracts. A group of banks can therefore approve a new member through a controlled process and reject every unapproved participant by default.
But permissioning and privacy are not exactly the same thing.
Permissioning decides who can enter the network. Privacy decides what each approved participant is allowed to see.
With private transaction groups, Bank A and Bank B can complete a bilateral transaction without revealing all its details to Bank C, even when all three banks belong to the same network. The common ledger still coordinates the network, while the private information stays with the selected parties.
Modular privacy layers like Zeeve Tegaris extend this privacy. Zero-knowledge proofs, selective disclosure, private transactions, and other features bring system-wide privacy instead of only covering the network layer.
Security also benefits from the open-source model of Hyperledger Besu. The code is reviewed by maintainers from different organizations instead of being controlled by one vendor. And since every node executes the same rules, the parties arrive at the same ledger state without manually matching separate records later.
How does a Besu network agree on a transaction?
Imagine that five banks are maintaining one shared ledger. Before a transaction is added, the network needs a way to agree that the transaction is valid and that every bank will record the same result.
This process is called consensus.
Banks need more than a transaction that is probably final. A payment or securities settlement cannot remain uncertain while participants wait for several more blocks to appear. The treasury team needs to know when the transaction is complete so that the next accounting or settlement process can begin.
Besu supports consensus mechanisms designed for this kind of certainty.
| IBFT 2.0 | Byzantine fault tolerant | Immediate in one block | Interbank networks with known validators |
| QBFT | Byzantine fault tolerant | Immediate in one block | Larger consortium networks |
| Clique | Proof of authority | Probabilistic and needs more confirmations | Test networks and simpler setups |
IBFT 2.0 and QBFT can continue working even when a limited number of validators are faulty or malicious. They prevent forks and finalize a block as soon as it is committed.
In simple words, once the network says the transaction is complete, it is complete.
Published test results for permissioned Besu networks using QBFT or IBFT 2.0 fall in the high hundreds to low thousands of transactions per second. The LF Decentralized Trust QBFT benchmark published in 2024 showed figures between 645 and 1,200 transactions per second under test conditions.
Actual performance depends on the number of validators, block size, hardware, and smart contract complexity. So, no, the benchmark is not a promise that every network will produce the same number.
Private Besu networks can also set gas prices to zero. Participants do not have to pay a fluctuating transaction fee, but gas accounting can still limit how much computing work fits inside one block. This helps keep costs and processing time predictable.
What can banks actually build with Besu?
Even if ETH isn’t used or no crypto tokens are used, Besu can be equally valuable for moving tokenized legal money.
The same programmable ledger can be used for tokenized deposits, bonds, funds, RWAs, cross-border payments, trade finance, and interbank settlement.
Tokenized deposits and programmable money are among the most important use cases. A deposit recorded on a permissioned ledger can be transferred, placed in escrow, or released automatically when the conditions inside a smart contract are met.
This can bring payments, settlement, and liquidity management onto the same infrastructure and reduce the amount of reconciliation required between different systems.
The financial impact could be considerable. Research from BCG and Anchorage Digital estimates that large banks could save 10 to 30 basis points on trapped intraday liquidity. For every 100 billion dollars of daily internal fund flows, that could represent annual savings of 100 to 300 million dollars.
Collateral is another major use case. Assets that remain locked inside separate systems cannot easily be moved to where they are needed. Tokenization can make collateral available for intraday repo and other transactions. This will help banks release trapped capital and improve liquidity management.
Banks can use Besu in different ways too. A single bank can build a private ledger for internal liquidity movement. Several banks can operate a shared network for settlement. A private network can also connect with public infrastructure when the use case requires it.
The important thing is that Besu can support all three models from the same codebase.
Where is Besu already being used?
Well, the strongest argument for a financial technology is not what it might do someday. It is what institutions are already doing with it.
Nigeria launched the eNaira on Besu in October 2021. It became the first African central bank digital currency and continues to support retail payments.
The mBridge project has connected central banks in Hong Kong, Thailand, China, and the UAE for cross-border CBDC settlement. Bank Indonesia has also tested Besu for the Digital Rupiah.
Besu has made its way into repo and capital market transactions as well. During the ECB’s DLT trials in November 2024, Deka Bank sold two intraday repos to NatWest Markets and a five-day repo to LBBW. The transactions used a native digital Siemens bond and tokenized German government bonds as collateral.
The tokenized assets ran on Deka Bank’s SWIAT ledger, which is a private permissioned EVM network built on Besu. The cash side was connected with the Bundesbank’s Trigger Solution.
Why is this example so important?
Because Besu was not sitting inside an isolated demonstration. It was being used in a transaction connected with live central bank settlement infrastructure.
Swift is taking Besu into another major area. It is building an EVM-compatible shared ledger that records and validates payment commitments between banks and settles value in tokenized commercial bank money. Each participating bank keeps control of its own keys and assets.
Source: SWIFT
Swift announced the initiative in September 2025 with more than 30 banks, completed the design phase in March 2026, and as of July 2026, 17 banks were ready to make pilot transactions using tokenized deposits. With more than 11,500 institutions connected to SWIFT, its choice of architecture sends quite a strong signal.
Citi Token Services also uses Besu to move corporate client money across borders throughout the day, including the hours when local bank branches are closed.
DTCC has built a platform for tokenized real-time collateral management on Besu. It also chairs the Besu Financial Services Working Group, which includes Citi, Banco Central do Brasil, Santander, Visa, and Mastercard.
Across these projects, the reasons for choosing Besu look similar. The technology is open source. Its governance is neutral. Several independent maintainers can work on the code. Institutions can also contribute to the roadmap instead of waiting for one private vendor to decide what happens next.
For infrastructure expected to run for decades, that independence does matter for financial institutions.
What does Zeeve add to a Besu network?
A basic Besu deployment gives a bank the blockchain client and the ledger. But a regulated production network needs more than that.
It needs privacy across the system, controlled deployment, continuous operations, monitoring, upgrades, and connectivity with other networks and banking systems.
Zeeve adds these operational layers around Besu.
The first one is the Zeeve Privacy layer, Tegaris. It is modular in nature, stack-agnostic, and adds privacy in four layers of the blockchain stack . At the application layer, it controls users, RPC endpoints, and explorer access. At the network layer, it manages validators, peers, and node onboarding. At the asset layer, zero-knowledge proofs can hide amounts, balances, and counterparties. At the ledger layer, smart contract state can be restricted to selected participants.
The second one is deployment choice. A bank can use Zeeve-managed infrastructure, Bring Your Own Cloud, an on-premise setup, or a hybrid model. This allows the network to run in the environment approved by the bank’s compliance and security teams.
The third layer is interoperability. As a partner of Cosmos Labs, Zeeve can help you integrate the Cosmos Tokenization engine with the Besu network and also use IBC to connect the ledger with other chains and external systems. These are great additions to Besu’s capabilities because the engine can make a bank’s tokenization work easier as it follows the standards and can be easily integrated. IBC can let a consortium connect with custom bank chains.
This means a private network does not have to remain a private island.
A few common questions about Besu
Is Hyperledger Besu itself a blockchain?
No. Besu is the client software used to run a blockchain network. A bank can use it to participate in public Ethereum or build its own permissioned network with approved validators and participants.
How is a private Besu network different from public Ethereum?
The execution model is the same, which is the important part. The difference is that a private network restricts access, can use zero gas prices, and can rely on BFT consensus for immediate finality. Public Ethereum is open to everyone and uses public proof-of-stake consensus.
Can Besu connect with other blockchains and bank systems?
Yes, but it requires integration. Protocols such as IBC can provide cross-chain connectivity. Connections with RTGS systems and ISO 20022 messaging can connect the ledger with existing financial infrastructure. Zeeve packages this kind of IBC connectivity for Besu-based networks leveraging its partnership with Cosmos Labs.
Is Besu mature enough for regulated finance?
Its production record says quite a lot. Besu has supported a live retail CBDC since 2021, participated in repo settlement during the ECB’s DLT trials, and powers platforms connected with Swift, Citi, and DTCC. It is governed under LF Decentralized Trust and supported by a financial services working group that includes banks, central banks, payment companies, and market infrastructure providers.
Launch and manage your Besu chain with Zeeve
When banks choose infrastructure for regulated digital money, they look for technology that is open, controlled, easily integrable, and proven in production. Among EVM platforms, Besu has built one of the strongest reputations here.
Now the question is how to run it.
Managing validators, permissioning, privacy, security, monitoring, and upgrades to banking standards is a full-time responsibility. Zeeve provides ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II compliant infrastructure with 24×7 managed operations, and integration with core banking systems, other banking applications, KYC/AML tools, and other 3rd party integration tools.
With Tegaris for privacy, BYOC, and Cosmos CTS integration for tokenized deposits, a bank can focus on the financial product while Zeeve manages the underlying network.
Zeeve has also helped a large US bank launch their tokenization initiative. If you’re exploring a Besu-based network, talk to Zeeve experts for an unbiased consultation.
