DBS Survey: Nearly 90% of Firms Now Use Tokenised Currencies as Settlement Diversifies
Translated from zh.
Key points
- A DBS survey finds 78% of respondent businesses have expanded the range of currencies they use for trade settlement.
- Renminbi adoption is described as becoming more widespread across multiple markets among surveyed firms.
- Nearly 90% of businesses surveyed report using tokenised currencies as part of their operations.
- The stated drivers for tokenised currency use include expansion into new trade corridors, new markets, and new currency areas.
- The survey is framed around the dual pressures of trade-pattern shifts and technology change reshaping corporate treasury requirements.
A DBS survey of businesses across its markets finds that 78% of respondents have broadened the range of currencies they use for settlement, with renminbi adoption spreading more widely as firms navigate shifting trade patterns and technology changes. Nearly nine in ten businesses surveyed report using tokenised currencies, citing the need to reach new trade corridors, enter new markets, and operate across a wider set of currency pairs.
The survey signals that tokenised money is moving from a niche instrument into a mainstream operational tool for corporate treasury, at least among the client base DBS chose to poll. The near-90% adoption figure is striking, though the survey’s methodology, sample size, and how ‘use’ is defined are not detailed in the available source material, so the number warrants some care in interpretation.
What the findings do underscore is a structural shift in what corporate treasurers are asking from their banking infrastructure: not just multi-currency accounts, but programmable, flexible settlement tooling that can follow trade flows into less-liquid corridors. For operators building or distributing tokenised payment rails into Asia, this survey provides a data point suggesting corporate demand is already ahead of where many infrastructure providers assumed it would be.