The way I see it, most existing financial transactions are trust-based. Many cryptocurrencies aim to be trustless. I see this as a compromise, with the visibility and implementability of cryptocurrencies, while still being trust-backed.

This way, if there is a problem with a transaction, or the currency, etc. there is someone left holding the bag, which is a better fit with the existing legal infrastructures that are already in place.

I'm actually pretty surprised that this is coming from a corporation, and not a national government. SWIFT can be an absolute bear, and providing a programmable currency interface à la Stripe, but with lower fees and the full backing of a government could be a killer app for international trade facilitation.