Key Takeaways
- • Payward integrates Singapore Gulf Bank's SGB Net clearing network, enabling 24/7 instant settlement for institutional digital asset clients in Asia and the Gulf region, eliminating traditional banking cut-off times and multi-day settlement delays.
- • SGB Net processes more than $20 billion in fiat transactions monthly since its 2025 launch; settlement offering begins with USD transactions for select clients with plans to expand to additional currencies.
- • Singapore Gulf Bank will onboard Kraken Prime as a liquidity source and use Payward's markets to price trades for its own digital asset customers, creating a two-way integration between the institutions.
- • SGB is backed by Mumtalakat (Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund) and Singapore's Whampoa Group, positioning the partnership within established institutional and sovereign investment frameworks.
Summary
Payward and Singapore Gulf Bank announced a strategic partnership to address a structural inefficiency in digital asset settlement: while cryptocurrency markets operate continuously, traditional bank settlement has remained bound to fixed business hours and multi-day processing windows. The integration of SGB Net, Singapore Gulf Bank's real-time multi-currency clearing network, allows institutional clients of both firms to settle digital asset transactions instantly at any time, including nights and weekends.
The partnership launches with USD settlement for a select group of institutional clients, with expansion to additional currencies planned over the coming months. SGB Net, which launched in 2025, has already scaled to process more than $20 billion in monthly fiat transactions, demonstrating institutional demand for continuous settlement infrastructure. The integration allows SGB clients to deposit funds with Payward and deploy them into digital asset markets immediately, rather than waiting for traditional banking operations to resume.
Concurrently, Singapore Gulf Bank is partnering with Kraken Prime, Payward's full-service prime brokerage offering, to access digital asset liquidity and use Payward's markets for pricing customer trades. This dual integration—Payward accessing SGB's settlement network while SGB draws on Kraken Prime for liquidity—creates a symbiotic relationship expanding both platforms' institutional reach across Asia and the Gulf region. The partnership is available initially to specific jurisdictions only, reflecting the regulatory patchwork governing digital asset services globally.
The partnership launches with USD settlement for a select group of institutional clients, with expansion to additional currencies planned over the coming months. SGB Net, which launched in 2025, has already scaled to process more than $20 billion in monthly fiat transactions, demonstrating institutional demand for continuous settlement infrastructure. The integration allows SGB clients to deposit funds with Payward and deploy them into digital asset markets immediately, rather than waiting for traditional banking operations to resume.
Concurrently, Singapore Gulf Bank is partnering with Kraken Prime, Payward's full-service prime brokerage offering, to access digital asset liquidity and use Payward's markets for pricing customer trades. This dual integration—Payward accessing SGB's settlement network while SGB draws on Kraken Prime for liquidity—creates a symbiotic relationship expanding both platforms' institutional reach across Asia and the Gulf region. The partnership is available initially to specific jurisdictions only, reflecting the regulatory patchwork governing digital asset services globally.
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