DBS and Citi settle weekend dollar payment on Swift's ledger
RWA & Tokenization ·
Two banks moved tokenized deposits across a blockchain-based ledger outside normal banking hours, completing a cross-border USD payment in minutes.
DBS and Citigroup completed what is described as a weekend cross-border USD payment using tokenized deposits on Swift's Digital Ledger, settling the transaction in minutes rather than waiting for the next business day, according to wublockchain.xyz. Cross-border payments through conventional correspondent banking channels typically pause outside standard operating hours, so completing a dollar transfer on a Saturday or Sunday marks a departure from that constraint.
The mechanism relies on tokenized deposits, digital representations of bank-held funds, moving across Swift's Digital Ledger rather than through the multi-step messaging and settlement chains that traditional correspondent banking uses. By representing the deposits as tokens on a shared ledger, the banks were able to transfer value and settle it without the intermediate holds that usually apply when banks are closed.
The test corroborates a wider pattern of banks and financial infrastructure providers experimenting with blockchain-based settlement rails for institutional payments. Swift, which underpins the messaging layer for most international bank transfers, has been developing ledger-based infrastructure as an extension of its existing network rather than a replacement, and this transaction represents one of the concrete demonstrations of that work involving two major banks.
What remains unclear is how quickly this kind of settlement moves from a demonstrated capability to routine use across Swift's broader membership, and whether other banks will adopt tokenized deposits for cross-border transfers on a similar timeline. The scale of the transaction, the specific technical architecture of Swift's Digital Ledger, and any regulatory conditions attached to weekend settlement of USD payments were not detailed in the available material. Whether this becomes a template for other currency pairs or remains a limited pilot between DBS and Citi is also unresolved.