DBS and Citi completed their first weekend tokenized cross-border payment between Singapore and the United States on Saturday, DBS said Monday. The banks used tokenized deposits on the Swift Digital Ledger rather than traditional banking-hours rails.
The deposit finalized in minutes. DBS called that a significant improvement versus the industry norm of as long as two business days for conventional cross-border transfers. Coverage did not disclose a USD notional for this specific payment.
Cointelegraph reported the move as a live weekend transfer on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. Standard Chartered and HSBC completed the first confirmed live tokenized cross-border transaction on that ledger in August. This DBS–Citi payment is the second confirmed live use cited in Monday’s coverage.
In July, Swift said its blockchain ledger was ready for initial use and was preparing to pilot tokenized cross-border payments with 17 major banks, including Citi, DBS, HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS, ANZ and Standard Chartered. The transaction keeps deposits inside banking channels while using always-on settlement rails outside weekday banking hours.
What would weaken this reading: a later clarification that the Saturday run was a limited internal trial rather than a client-facing payment, or disclosure that settlement still depended on a delayed off-ledger step not reflected in the “minutes” claim.
DBS via Cointelegraph (Zoltan Vardai, Sep 7, 2026)