DBS and Citi have completed a cross-border USD payment between Singapore and the United States over a weekend using tokenized deposits via Swift Digital Ledger, marking another step toward round-the-clock banking payments. According to the DBS announcement, the transaction was carried out by DBS and Citi’s New York office on September 5, 2026.
The payment took only minutes to complete. By comparison, DBS says conventional cross-border payments can take up to two business days because of time-zone differences, weekends and banking-system operating hours.
The use of tokenized deposits can reduce delays associated with weekends and different time zones, allowing participating financial institutions to move money outside traditional banking hours. DBS says the capability is particularly relevant to businesses operating across multiple countries, especially e-commerce and digital services, where payment needs are almost continuous.
Rachel Chew, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of Digital Assets in DBS’s Global Transaction Services business, said the transaction demonstrates how tokenized money is moving from experimentation toward real-world use, laying the groundwork for a more connected global financial system that operates around the clock.
Mridula Iyer, Citi’s Head of Services for Asia South, likewise emphasized that processing a live transaction over a weekend demonstrates that cross-border payments beyond traditional banking hours are already possible.
This is another live transaction on Swift Digital Ledger, following the first cross-border transaction on the platform completed by HSBC and Standard Chartered in August 2026.
On July 9, 2026, Swift announced that its ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing live pilots. Participants included Citi, DBS, HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS, ANZ and Standard Chartered.
Beyond Swift’s initiative, several participating banks are developing their own blockchain-based payment and tokenization infrastructure. According to media reports, Citi is involved in building a tokenized-deposit network to be operated by The Clearing House, with a launch planned for the first half of 2027.
Meanwhile, DBS and Kinexys by J.P. Morgan have also worked on a framework for interbank tokenized-deposit transfers, aiming to establish interoperability between banks’ blockchain payment systems.
The trend comes amid growing demand for fast, round-the-clock cross-border payments. A DBS survey found that 50% of finance leaders were exploring blockchain-powered capabilities for liquidity and foreign-exchange management. Meanwhile, a Money20/20 and FXC Intelligence forecast cited by DBS projects that outbound cross-border payments from Asia could rise from $13.5 trillion in 2025 to $24 trillion by 2033.
Related: stablecoin fragmentation and the search for a shared payment infrastructure.
