Kraken parent adds 24/7 dollar settlement with Singapore Gulf Bank

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has struck a partnership with Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) to provide 24/7 US dollar settlement for selected institutional clients across Asia and the Gulf. The arrangement connects Payward’s systems to SGB Net, the Bahrain-regulated bank’s real-time clearing network, enabling instant settlement of dollar transactions outside traditional banking hours.

Under the agreement, SGB will also tap Payward’s Kraken Prime prime brokerage for digital asset liquidity and intends to use Payward’s markets to price customer trades in the coming months, the companies said in a press release. Payward and SGB said they plan to widen the offering to additional clients and to support more currencies over time.

The deal comes as banks and financial firms push to shorten settlement times and extend them beyond regular business hours. Industry initiatives include plans by a consortium led by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Barclays to launch a tokenized deposit network operated by The Clearing House — targeting a first-half-2027 start — and reported plans by Circle and Nomura in Japan to offer instant forex settlement from 2027. Central banks are also running pilots to enable after-hours settlement, such as the Bank of Korea’s project for won transactions.

By linking a regulated Gulf bank’s real-time payments network with a crypto prime brokerage, the Payward–SGB tie-up aims to give institutional clients quicker fiat rails for digital-asset activity in the region. The companies framed the move as part of a broader trend toward round-the-clock settlement infrastructure across traditional and digital finance.