"Ice-9" is an operational freeze of an account by a bank without debiting funds. Your money remains on the balance sheet, but access to it is temporarily blocked for verification of transactions.

In recent years, bank clients have increasingly encountered unfamiliar terms such as bail-in, account freeze, and enhanced due diligence.

The term “Ice-9” in financial discussions does not come from economics or law. It originates from literature — from Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

For decades, international payments have relied on a single backbone. Banks, currencies, correspondent accounts - all connected through SWIFT, the invisible infrastructure of the global financial system.

After the 2008 financial crisis, European regulators came to the conclusion that banks could no longer be rescued at the expense of taxpayers.

New-generation global payment projects, such as Project mBridge, developed under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements, are gradually changing the architecture of international finance.

This article summarises the main findings of 2025 and presents them in the context of verified institutional research and official publications.