DBS and Citi just wrapped up a US dollar cross-border payment straight from Singapore to New York on September 5 using tokenized deposits on SWIFT’s shared ledger 🖤. It cleared everything in minutes over the weekend when a regular transfer can drag up to two business days fr.
The banks leaned on tokenized deposits like commercial-bank money living on a blockchain with SWIFT’s ledger stepping in as the matchmaker to net obligations before final settlement on existing rails 🌙.
“In a global digital economy that never sleeps businesses need to move money more quickly and efficiently across borders to stay competitive” said Rachel Chew Group Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of Digital Assets Global Transaction Services at DBS.
DBS Leveling Up Tokenized Rails 💀
DBS Southeast Asia’s biggest bank dropped DBS Token Services back in 2024 and remains the only Asian bank in the 12-member core design crew for SWIFT’s ledger ✨. It also runs DBS Treasury Tokens on a permissioned blockchain for corporate treasury and liquidity vibes plus teamed with Ripple and Franklin Templeton to launch tokenized repo markets on the XRP Ledger with Franklin’s sgBENJI and Ripple’s RLUSD now listed on DBS Digital Exchange 🕸️.
Asia’s outbound cross-border payments are set to hit 24 trillion by 2033 up from 13.5 trillion in 2025 so half of finance leaders are already testing blockchain tools for liquidity and fx plays rn 🦇.
Banks Stacking Up on Swift Ledger 🔥
This DBS-Citi move follows the first live tokenized deposit transfer on the network run by HSBC and Standard Chartered on August 19 💎.
“With our new ledger capability we’re extending the trust and stability of established finance into the frontiers of digital money” said Thierry Chilosi Chief Business Officer at Swift. Seventeen banks from six continents like ANZ BNP Paribas MUFG UBS and Wells Fargo are piloting live transactions on the ledger that Swift announced in September 2025 after Consensys prototyped it.
Bank of America’s Mark Monaco noted clients aren’t exactly beating down the door for tokenized deposits tho interest keeps growing. A rival US network called The Bridge is being built by The Clearing House with JPMorgan Bank of America Citigroup and Wells Fargo for the first half of 2027 open to all US banks.
Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖
