DBS and JPMorgan collaborate to build a cross-chain interoperability framework, enabling tokenized deposits for 24/7 payment transfers.

DBS Bank ( announced on November 11 that it is jointly developing a “cross-chain interoperability framework” with JP Morgan ), aiming to allow both parties' on-chain ecosystems to transfer tokenized deposits to each other.

BIS: Tokenization has become the mainstream trend in the banking industry.

According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) survey in 2024, about one-third of commercial banks worldwide have begun researching or piloting “Tokenized Deposits” (. These tokens are issued by banks and are backed by actual deposits, allowing for direct transfers or settlements on-chain.

Many large financial institutions have invested in blockchain applications in recent years, hoping to reduce cross-border payment costs, shorten settlement times, and further advance financial digitalization and RWA development. According to the BIS chart:

“Global banks are actively engaged in the research of tokenized assets, with over 80% participation from developed countries, but many are still in the research and concept validation stage, with few actual users.”

To enable tokenized deposits to be cross-chain interoperable 24/7, it is the main focus of cooperation between both parties.

According to DBS's latest statement, this project will combine its own Token Services with JPMorgan's Kinexys Digital Payments, allowing the tokenized deposits of both banks to be exchanged and settled between public chains and permissioned chains.

Both parties stated that this will be a 24-hour operating payment system, allowing businesses to transfer funds across banks, conduct cross-border transactions, or settle payments at any time, completely unrestricted by traditional bank business hours.

JPMorgan is actively expanding its tokenization field and deepening its long-term layout with DBS.

Two weeks before this collaboration was announced, on )10 at the end of October (, JPMorgan had just completed its first tokenization transaction on its new platform “Kinexys Fund Flow” and is expected to officially launch in 2026. The platform will eventually expand into the asset tokenization fields of private credit, real estate, and more.

JPMorgan and DBS Bank have previously co-invested in the blockchain-based settlement and payment platform Patrior, which raised $60 million in July 2024, demonstrating both parties' long-term strategic layout in the tokenization field.

UBS verifies the feasibility of cross-chain token payments, banks move towards a new stage of interoperability.

In addition to the United States and Singapore, major Swiss banks such as UBS, PostFinance, and Sygnum Bank completed the world's first “blockchain-based and legally binding bank payment” in September this year, further validating the feasibility of tokenization deposits in fiat currency payments.

It can be seen that traditional banks are moving from the “individual experiments” phase to the “system interconnection” phase, by establishing common standards to reduce the technical gaps and liquidity fragmentation issues in cross-border token transfers.

This article discusses how DBS and JPMorgan are co-creating a cross-chain interoperability framework, enabling tokenization of deposits for 24/7 payment transfers, which first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.