Kraken parent Payward and Singapore Gulf Bank launch 24/7 settlement

Kraken's operator has switched on round-the-clock dollar settlement for institutional traders. Payward said on October 4 it had connected to SGB Net, a clearing network run by Bahrain-regulated Singapore Gulf Bank that moves more than $20 billion in fiat each month.

The two firms set out the tie-up in a press release issued at 22:00 ET on October 4. Payward, the company behind the Kraken exchange, said a select group of institutional clients can now move money in and out at any hour, skipping the bank cut-off times and multi-day waits that normally slow fiat transfers.

How the round-the-clock settlement works

SGB Net is a real-time, multi-currency clearing network that Singapore Gulf Bank launched in 2025 for digital-asset businesses. The bank says it now moves more than $20 billion in fiat each month. Payward has wired its own systems into that network, so clients can fund trades and settle in dollars instantly, day or night, rather than through the correspondent-banking chain that handles most cross-border dollar transfers.

Crypto markets never close. Bank rails do. That gap has long forced trading firms to pre-fund accounts or wait days for dollars to clear, which ties up cash they could put to work. A desk that cannot settle until Monday risks missing a move or getting caught in a forced sell-off.

Pre-funding is where the cost bites. To trade on a weekend, a firm often parks dollars at an exchange days ahead, capital it cannot use elsewhere until Monday. Real-time settlement is meant to shrink that idle float and the counterparty risk of leaving cash on a venue.

At launch the service handles US dollars only, for that select client list in certain Asian and Gulf jurisdictions. Singapore Gulf Bank will also plug into Kraken Prime, Payward's prime brokerage arm, to source crypto liquidity and pricing for its own customers.

Mark Greenberg, Payward's chief commercial officer, put the problem in plain terms. "Exchanges, payment providers, OTC desks and fintechs all run into the same banking constraint: settlement stops when the business day does, while their markets do not," he said.

Who Singapore Gulf Bank is

Singapore Gulf Bank is a licensed digital bank regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. It is backed by Mumtalakat, Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, and by Singapore's Whampoa Group. For Payward, a bank with a central-bank license offers a compliant way into a region that has courted crypto and fintech firms.

The Gulf angle is not incidental. Bahrain has spent years pitching itself as a regulated home for digital-asset companies, and the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have pushed in the same direction. A settlement rail based in the region gives Asian and Gulf trading desks a local dollar option.

Shawn Chan, the bank's chief executive, said the point is practical. "Access to liquidity is only useful if clients can move funds when they need to," he said. Chan added that linking SGB Net with Payward and Kraken Prime brings "settlement and liquidity closer together."

What the firms did not say

Neither company put a number on how many clients can use the service, and neither named one. Fees were not disclosed. The release said only that it starts with a select group, and the full list of eligible jurisdictions was not published.

CoinDesk reported that the deal follows talks between Payward and BNY Mellon over possible infrastructure work, a sign the company is lining up more than one banking partner. Neither Payward nor BNY Mellon has confirmed a deal. The move fits a wider pattern, with exchanges racing to bolt banking-grade settlement onto crypto trading as more institutions ask for it. For now, the SGB link is the one that is live.

What to watch

Whether the rollout widens is the real test. Payward has said it wants to add currencies, clients and more regulated banks over time. Watch for named institutions, a second currency, and any move by rivals such as Coinbase or Circle to strike similar bank links. The pitch lands against a jittery market. Bitcoin has seen sharp swings in recent sessions, and fast dollar access matters most when prices move. Until the client list grows, this is a narrow pilot with a broad promise.