Key Takeaways
- DBS and Citi completed a weekend cross-border dollar payment using tokenized deposits on Swift’s ledger.
- The milestone strengthens banks’ push into 24/7 blockchain payments.
- The move adds a fresh hit to Ripple and XRP’s cross-border payments pitch.
DBS and Citi have completed a weekend US dollar payment through the Swift Digital Ledger, providing another example of banks bringing round-the-clock cross-border transfers into their existing financial networks.
The transaction between Singapore and Citi’s New York office took minutes on Sept. 5, according to an announcement.
For XRP, the move may add another obstacle to the hopes that Ripple’s XRPL-based payments infrastructure could eventually challenge SWIFT.
DBS and Citi Complete Weekend Dollar Payment
DBS said the transfer avoided delays associated with weekends and time zone differences.
The bank compared its minutes-long completion time with cross-border payments that can take up to two business days.
Mridula Iyer, Citi’s head of Services for Asia South, described the payment as evidence that the technology is already supporting live activity.
“Processing a live transaction over a weekend demonstrates that always-on cross-border payments are already a reality,” Iyer said.
Rachel Chew, group chief operating officer, also said connecting banking infrastructure with digital networks would help tokenized money move beyond experimentation.
DBS launched its Token Services business in 2024, participating in the 12-bank core group designing Swift’s digital ledger.
The DBS transaction follows other live transfers involving Citi on the same infrastructure.
On Sept. 2, Citi announced transactions with First Abu Dhabi Bank and OCBC.
Swift had announced on July 9 that its blockchain ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot transactions.
Banks Challenge Part of XRP’s Payments Proposition
Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity service approaches cross-border payments differently.
Using XRP as an intermediate asset between currencies, Ripple says the model allows customers to source liquidity when needed rather than maintaining pre-funded balances in destination markets.
The commercial argument from Ripple extends beyond transaction speed; it also seeks to reduce the amount of working capital businesses must leave waiting in overseas accounts.
Banks are increasingly pursuing similar operational benefits through their own deposit networks.
On June 29, JPMorgan expanded its Kinexys Blockchain Deposit Accounts to eight currencies.
The bank said customers could move balances and execute foreign-exchange transactions on-chain between supported currencies.
With these developments accelerating, round-the-clock availability alone may be becoming less of a differentiator for Ripple’s blockchain-based payments infrastructure.
Ripple’s SWIFT Challenge Still Faces a Huge Adoption Gap
For XRP holders betting on a SWIFT replacement, the hope is that Ripple Payments and the XRP Ledger could ultimately increase XRP’s use as a bridge asset.
However, replacing SWIFT is a much bigger ambition than winning businesses.
SWIFT connects more than 11,500 financial institutions, market infrastructure providers, and corporate customers across over 200 countries and territories.
Ripple’s treasury platform advertises connections to more than 13,000 banks and financial institutions, but those are software connections, not a count of banks settling payments with XRP.
Even the bullish outlook outlined by Ripple’s leadership stops short of complete displacement.
At XRPL Apex in June 2025, Brad Garlinghouse suggested XRP could capture 14% of the cross-border liquidity associated with SWIFT within five years.
Meanwhile, SWIFT is providing banks with several routes for round-the-clock payments.
For XRP holders, the more meaningful milestone is sustained growth in payments actually using the token.
