DBS and Citi Test 24/7 Tokenized USD Payments
DBS and Citi completed a weekend USD payment in minutes using tokenized deposits on Swift’s Digital Ledger, showing how cross-border bank payments could be executed outside normal operating hours.
Key Takeaways
- DBS and Citi completed a weekend USD payment.
- Tokenized deposits remain bank-issued money.
- Swift enables payment execution beyond banking hours.
- Final settlement still uses established banking rails.
- The next test is recurring corporate use.
The payment solved an operating-hours problem, not a currency problem
DBS and Citi’s New York office completed a cross-border USD payment between Singapore and the United States on September 5. DBS said the transaction used tokenized deposits and took minutes, while conventional cross-border transfers can take up to two business days when time zones and weekend closures interrupt the process.
DBS Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets Rachel Chew said:
“tokenised money is moving from experimentation to real-world adoption.”
What matters is that the payment was completed over a weekend. Companies can submit payment instructions outside business hours, but banks may not execute or settle them until the relevant payment windows reopen. The DBS–Citi transfer tested whether that delay could be reduced for a regulated USD payment between two banking centres.
The test involved bank-issued deposits, not a publicly circulating stablecoin. It was designed to make existing commercial-bank money more usable outside the timetable that has traditionally governed cross-border banking.
What the Swift ledger changes
Tokenized deposits are digital representations of money already held at a bank. The holder still has a claim on the issuing bank, and the bank remains responsible for compliance checks, account controls and the underlying balance sheet.
That differs from a stablecoin, which is usually issued by a separate entity and designed to circulate on public blockchain networks. Swift’s model keeps the payment within bank relationships while using a shared digital ledger to coordinate movement between participating institutions.
Swift’s ledger changes payment execution, while final settlement remains on established real-time gross settlement and correspondent-banking rails.
Swift announced in July that 17 banks across six continents were preparing to use the ledger for tokenized-deposit payments. The DBS–Citi payment adds a Singapore – U.S. weekend example to Swift’s first live ledger transactions, following Citi’s earlier transactions with First Abu Dhabi Bank and OCBC. Swift’s initial ledger rollout set out the larger ambition.
Why corporate treasurers may care
A company with operations in Singapore and the United States may need to fund a subsidiary, pay a supplier or rebalance dollar liquidity after one market has closed. Under the conventional process, money can remain in one entity while another waits for the next banking window. A 24/7 tokenized-deposit system could allow the company to move the same bank money sooner, with a clearer view of cash available across the group.
The value lies in reducing the delay created by weekends, time zones and payment cut-offs. Faster access to funds can also help treasury teams respond to changing market conditions or foreign-exchange needs, although it does not remove FX risk.
Swift is aiming to connect tokenized deposits across banks
Several banks already operate tokenized-deposit services within their own networks. HSBC has expanded its Tokenised Deposit Service across Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the United States, allowing participating clients to move funds around the clock within HSBC’s infrastructure.
HSBC shows that tokenized deposits can work inside one banking group; Swift is testing whether the model can work between banking groups. That is the distinction that could make the ledger useful for companies whose counterparties do not all bank with the same institution.
Citi had already processed live USD transactions on the Swift ledger with First Abu Dhabi Bank and OCBC before the DBS transfer. In its September 2 announcement, Citi described the project as a controlled proof of concept running from July through December 2026. It also said its 24/7 USD Clearing service reaches more than 300 bank clients, while Citi Token Services has processed around $1 billion in transactions.
The Swift pilot is testing whether tokenized-deposit services can move beyond a single bank’s own network. HSBC’s expansion, Citi’s live-pilot announcement and Swift’s July plan show how that transition is taking shape.
Where tokenized deposits fit alongside stablecoins
Public stablecoins already provide 24/7 dollar transfers on blockchain networks, particularly in crypto markets and onchain finance. Tokenized deposits serve a different institutional need: they can offer continuous availability and programmability while keeping corporate funds within existing bank relationships and compliance frameworks.
That may appeal to institutions that prioritize counterparty controls, legal clarity and integration with established treasury systems. Public stablecoins remain better suited to open crypto markets, onchain liquidity and applications that need to interact across public networks.
For banks, the commercial question is whether they can offer corporate clients the same always-on access that stablecoin rails provide in other markets. The battle for the onchain dollar is increasingly being fought through treasury infrastructure rather than crypto trading alone.
The pilot still has to prove daily reliability
The weekend payment proves that the model can work. It does not prove that it can already operate at the volumes, across the currencies and through the operational exceptions of global corporate payments.
Swift’s ledger still needs to show how it handles payment errors, sanctions screening, foreign-exchange liquidity, reconciliation and final settlement when markets are closed. Participating banks will also need to make the service available to clients on comparable terms.
Tokenization is changing traditional banking, but it does not remove the legal and operational rules that make bank money trusted. A token can move instantly, while a cross-border payment must still be enforceable, compliant and recoverable when something goes wrong. The wider banking shift depends on solving both parts of that problem.
What the weekend payment really proves
The next test is whether participating banks can handle recurring corporate payments across currencies and time zones, rather than a single weekend transfer. That will require the ledger to work reliably alongside compliance checks, foreign-exchange processes and the established systems used for final settlement. Wider adoption will depend on whether companies see a practical benefit in using it for routine treasury payments.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
