Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB), the digital wholesale bank regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, has launched a stablecoin interoperability network designed to bridge the gap between traditional fiat banking and the digital asset economy.
The service represents a significant upgrade to SGB Net, the bank’s proprietary real-time clearing network. The new capability enables institutional clients to mint, convert, and settle leading stablecoins—including USDC and USDT—directly against fiat currency within a single, regulated banking environment.
The bank claims this is a “first-of-its-kind” platform for the GCC and Asian markets, addressing the fragmentation that often plagues institutional digital asset transactions. By consolidating these functions, SGB aims to eliminate the need for multiple intermediaries, allowing for near real-time settlement and simplified treasury workflows.
The network upgrade supports transactions on major blockchains including Solana, Ethereum, and Arbitrum. Security for digital asset custody and transactions is underpinned by a partnership with Fireblocks, which the bank formalized in November 2025.
Shawn Chan, chief executive officer of SGB, commented: “Our ambition is to become the one bank for all of finance. Stablecoins have become the working capital of the digital asset economy, yet managing them remains unnecessarily complex. This upgrade to SGB Net positions SGB as the default bank for managing fiat and multiple stablecoins within a single, regulated infrastructure.”
Rapid growth
The launch comes amidst a period of rapid expansion for the bank, which is backed by Whampoa Group and Mumtalakat (the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain). SGB Net currently processes in excess of $2billion in monthly fiat transaction volume, with the bank reporting an average month-on-month growth rate of 92.64 per cent.
The new stablecoin capabilities are scheduled to open for access in Q1 2026. The move follows the bank’s rollout of corporate banking services in late 2024 and the initial launch of SGB Net in May 2025.
