Payward and Singapore Gulf Bank have partnered to offer 24/7 settlement for eligible institutional digital asset clients in Asia and the Gulf region, targeting one of the persistent frictions in crypto markets: moving fiat currency between banks and trading venues outside conventional banking hours.
The arrangement connects Payward, the infrastructure platform behind Kraken, with Singapore Gulf Bank’s SGB Net real-time, multi-currency clearing network. The companies said the integration will initially support U.S.-dollar settlement for a selected group of clients, before expanding to additional customers and currencies.
Under the setup, an SGB client will be able to deposit funds with Payward through SGB Net and use those funds immediately. That could shorten the gap between sending cash and placing a trade, particularly during weekends, public holidays and periods when traditional correspondent-banking systems are closed.
Connecting bank money to 24-hour markets
Digital asset markets trade continuously, but the banking infrastructure used to fund many institutional transactions often operates within daily cut-off windows. Transfers between a bank and a trading venue can take hours or days, depending on the currencies, jurisdictions and intermediary banks involved.
Payward and SGB are positioning their link as a direct response to that mismatch. Instant settlement would allow eligible firms to shift U.S. dollars into their Payward accounts throughout the day, rather than maintaining large prefunded balances at multiple venues or waiting for the next banking window.
The immediate practical use is liquidity management. A trading firm that has cash held at SGB could transfer it to Payward when needed, rather than committing funds in advance to a venue in anticipation of market activity. In volatile conditions, access to cash can determine whether a firm can meet margin requirements, execute hedges or take advantage of prices that move outside regional business hours.
The rollout remains limited at launch. Payward and SGB have not provided a timetable for wider currency support or specified which jurisdictions and institutional categories will qualify first. Cross-border settlement services typically face different licensing, anti-money-laundering and currency-control requirements across markets, which can shape where a network is available.
SGB net’s role in the arrangement
Singapore Gulf Bank launched SGB Net in 2025 for digital asset businesses. The bank said the network now processes more than $20 billion in fiat transactions each month.
SGB is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and is backed by Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, and Singapore-based Whampoa Group. The bank offers corporate and personal accounts, multi-currency banking, international payments and remote account opening, alongside digital asset-related services.
The Payward integration gives SGB Net a connection to a major digital asset market infrastructure provider, while allowing Payward to add another route for institutional clients seeking faster fiat movement in the Gulf and Asian corridors.
Shawn Chan, chief executive officer of Singapore Gulf Bank, said SGB will also onboard Kraken Prime as a liquidity source for its digital asset products. Kraken Prime is Payward’s institutional prime brokerage service, designed to provide access to trading, custody and financing services through a single relationship.
SGB plans to use Payward’s markets to price trades offered to its own customers over the coming months. That part of the arrangement extends beyond payment settlement: the bank would be able to draw on Payward’s liquidity infrastructure when quoting digital asset transactions to clients.
A push toward less prefunding
The structure could be particularly useful for institutions that operate across several venues and banking partners. Many firms hold capital in advance at exchanges, custodians and over-the-counter desks because transferring money after a market move can be too slow. That approach can leave cash fragmented across accounts and increase operational complexity.
Real-time settlement networks do not remove all counterparty or market risks. A client still needs to satisfy onboarding rules, maintain sufficient funds, and operate within the services and jurisdictions supported by both companies. Yet faster cash movement can reduce the amount of idle capital that firms feel compelled to park at a venue solely to ensure they can trade during off-hours.
It also places more focus on bank infrastructure in a market where trading technology has often advanced more quickly than fiat settlement rails. Crypto venues can match orders within fractions of a second, while the cash leg of a transaction may remain dependent on batch-processing cycles, correspondent banks and regional settlement schedules.
Payward expands its banking layer
The partnership forms part of Payward Banking, which the company describes as the cash-movement layer for deposits, payments, cards, custody and lending across the Payward platform. Payward said it intends to add further banking partners as it builds banking services for clients in more markets.
Mark Greenberg, chief commercial officer at Payward, is leading the commercial effort for the company. The SGB partnership gives Payward an institutional banking connection in Bahrain, a jurisdiction that has sought to develop a regulated digital asset and financial-services sector.
For institutions active in Asia and the Gulf, the usefulness of the service will depend on execution rather than the 24/7 label alone. Coverage across currencies, client eligibility, funding limits, pricing and the reliability of settlement during stressed markets will determine whether it becomes a routine treasury tool.
The initial U.S.-dollar rollout gives both firms a starting point in the currency most widely used for digital asset trading. If the network expands as planned, it could give eligible institutional clients a more continuous link between bank balances and crypto market liquidity without relying on the weekday timetable that still governs much of global fiat settlement.
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