Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) has officially operationalized its strategy to bridge the $500 billion trade corridor between Singapore and the MENA region, leveraging Solana as its primary settlement layer. Launched in March 2025, the regulated wholesale bank is moving beyond theoretical interoperability, deploying a production-grade environment that unites traditional banking with digital asset fluidity. By servicing 70% of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in the region, SGB is effectively capturing the majority of institutional crypto trading flow, redirecting it through a unified banking architecture designed to reduce friction in cross-border settlements.

The bank’s latest product rollout addresses the two primary friction points for institutional DeFi adoption: compliance and cost. The new interface facilitates a streamlined "five-click" workflow for minting and redeeming stablecoins—specifically USDC and USDT—directly between corporate bank accounts and whitelisted DeFi wallets. Crucially, SGB handles the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and pre-clearance checks on the banking side, creating a sanitized tunnel for capital to move on-chain without triggering compliance red flags at the protocol level.

In a clear bid to consolidate liquidity on Solana, SGB has introduced aggressive incentives exclusive to the network. While the bank supports multiple chains, it is waiving all minting and banking fees and fully subsidizing gas costs solely for Solana transactions. This pricing strategy transforms the network from a mere technical option into the most economically viable rail for high-frequency institutional settlement. By removing the overhead of gas and fees, SGB is positioning itself not just as a custodian, but as an active accelerator of on-chain velocity for the Asia-Gulf economic zone.