DBS and Citi Complete Tokenized Dollar Cross-Border Payment via Swift Digital Ledger

DBS and Citi’s New York office completed a tokenized deposit dollar payment between Singapore and the United States on September 5 using the Swift Digital Ledger. According to ChainCatcher, the transaction was executed over the weekend and took only minutes, compared with traditional cross-border payments that can take up to two business days. This was the ledger’s second confirmed live application. HSBC and Standard Chartered completed the first live tokenized deposit cross-border transaction in August, after Swift announced on July 9 that the ledger was available for initial use. Seventeen banks were preparing to pilot the system, and DBS was the only Asia-headquartered bank among the 12 core design group members. DBS Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Chew said the Swift Digital Ledger is connecting traditional banking infrastructure with emerging digital networks to move tokenized money from experimentation to practical use. Citi South Asia Services Head Mridula Iyer said the weekend live transaction showed that round-the-clock cross-border payments have become a reality. DBS launched DBS Token Services in 2024, offering 24/7 programmable instant value transfer services.