Kraken Parent Payward Links With Singapore Gulf Bank for Round-the-Clock Settlement

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has formed a partnership with Singapore Gulf Bank to bring 24-hour, seven-day-a-week settlement capabilities to institutional digital asset markets across Asia and the Gulf region, the companies announced Sunday.

At the center of the agreement is SGB Net, Singapore Gulf Bank's real-time clearing network, which Payward has now integrated into its infrastructure. The connection allows institutional clients to complete settlements instantly regardless of the time of day, eliminating the delays that have historically plagued cross-border digital asset transactions outside traditional banking hours.

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The deal carries an additional liquidity dimension: Singapore Gulf Bank will onboard Kraken Prime as a source of digital asset liquidity, potentially deepening the pool of assets available to the bank's institutional customer base. Kraken Prime serves professional and institutional traders, making it a natural complement to a bank oriented toward the same clientele in two of the world's fastest-growing digital asset markets.

The partnership reflects a broader industry push to close the gap between traditional banking infrastructure and the around-the-clock nature of crypto markets. Institutional players have long cited settlement risk and limited operating windows as barriers to deeper participation in digital assets, and real-time clearing networks represent one of the more direct solutions to those concerns. By anchoring the arrangement in two high-growth regions — Southeast Asia and the Gulf states — both firms are positioning themselves at the intersection of emerging-market demand and institutional-grade infrastructure.

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