Payward and Singapore Gulf Bank announced on October 5, 2026, that they have integrated SGB Net to offer instant, around-the-clock transaction settlement for select institutional clients in eligible Asian and Gulf jurisdictions. The initial service is limited to U.S. dollar transactions, but it is aimed at an operational constraint familiar to digital-asset firms: markets can trade continuously while conventional banking and settlement processes remain subject to operating-hour cutoffs.
The arrangement also goes beyond the settlement rail. Singapore Gulf Bank plans to connect Kraken Prime, Payward's institutional prime brokerage service, as a source of digital-asset liquidity and use Payward's markets to price customer trades, according to the companies' announcement.
SGB Net targets the bank-cutoff problem in Asia and the Gulf
SGB Net's integration targets select institutional clients in eligible Asian and Gulf jurisdictions, not a broad retail audience, and Payward said eligible clients can settle transactions instantly at any time of day, seven days a week. CoinDesk reported that the rollout is designed to address the mismatch between nonstop digital-asset trading and traditional banking cutoffs. The initial service supports U.S. dollar transactions for a limited number of institutional clients, rather than offering universal cross-border dollar availability.
The rollout begins with a limited institutional dollar service
At launch, the service supports U.S. dollars only and is available to a limited number of institutional clients. Singapore Gulf Bank said it intends to add clients and currencies over time, but did not provide a timetable for either expansion in its release.
Neither company disclosed the number of institutions in the initial cohort or the transaction volumes expected to pass through the Payward-SGB arrangement, leaving the early commercial scale of this specific integration unquantified. SGB Net has separately reported an established fiat-processing base.
The dollar-first design gives the launch a focused starting point. U.S. dollars are the only currency cited by the firms, and further currency support remains a plan rather than a live feature described in the announcement.
Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, in coverage of the Payward–Singapore Gulf Bank 24/7 settlement partnership. — Source: CoinDesk
Singapore Gulf Bank links SGB Net to Kraken Prime liquidity and pricing
The broader relationship joins settlement with two market-facing functions. Singapore Gulf Bank will connect Kraken Prime as a digital-asset liquidity source, while planning to use Payward's markets to price customer trades.
The planned connection involves Kraken Prime, Payward's institutional prime brokerage service, but the companies left several details unspecified: which assets would be available through the liquidity connection, how execution would be arranged, and when the planned use of Payward market pricing would begin.
Still, the stated design places the settlement service alongside trading infrastructure rather than presenting it as a standalone bank-transfer product. For institutions operating across the two regions, the intended workflow connects dollar settlement availability with access to digital-asset liquidity and market-based customer pricing.
SGB Net enters the partnership with more than $20 billion in monthly fiat volume
SGB Net launched in 2025 and processes more than $20 billion in fiat transactions each month, according to Singapore Gulf Bank. The figure is a network-level metric supplied by the bank, not a measure of activity generated by the new Payward partnership.
That distinction is important because the parties have not published transaction data for the limited institutional dollar service. There is no disclosed basis yet for comparing the integration's contribution with SGB Net's broader monthly fiat throughput.
The October 5 announcement instead establishes the initial direction of the partnership: a 24/7 U.S. dollar settlement service for selected institutions in eligible Asian and Gulf markets, supplemented by planned pricing links and a Kraken Prime liquidity connection. Whether the rollout broadens will depend on the addition of clients and currencies that the firms have said are planned but have not yet specified.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Source: Crypto Daily