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- Global banks including J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, Citi and BNY are already deploying tokenized deposits to support use cases such as 24/7 FX settlement, cross-border payments and digital asset settlement, according to new research from RWA.io.
- Regulatory treatment of tokenized deposits is becoming clearer in markets such as the US and UK, though classification remains less defined in the EU. Interoperability between banks and blockchain networks will be key to scaling adoption globally.
- “The global financial system still runs on commercial bank money, and bringing that money onto digital rails will underpin the next generation of digital finance.,” said Marko Vidrih, co-founder and COO at RWA.io.
United States, 23 March 2026 – Tokenized commercial bank deposits will be crucial to enabling a resilient digital financial system, and large-scale adoption will depend on interoperability and regulatory coordination across platforms and jurisdictions, according to new industry-backed research published by RWA.io.
The report, titled “Tokenized Deposits: The Future of Money”, comes amid ongoing industry debate that often pits different forms of digital money – stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits – against each other.
The research finds that these instruments are not inherently in competition and should instead coexist within a multi-layer digital financial system, with tokenized deposits serving as a critical institutional settlement layer capable of supporting both traditional financial markets and the expanding digital asset ecosystem.
The potential scale of opportunity is significant. Global customer deposits totalled around $103 trillion in 2024, while the global M2 money supply exceeded $140 trillion in mid-2025. Even a small share of that liquidity moving onto blockchain infrastructure could create a tokenized deposit market far larger than today’s stablecoin sector.
The research draws on contributions from 15 global financial institutions, technology providers and policy organisations, including Standard Chartered Bank, Citi, BNY, Ondo Finance and UK Finance.
Marko Vidrih, co-founder and COO at RWA.io said: “When we talk about digital money today, much of the attention focuses on stablecoins or CBDCs. But the global financial system still runs on commercial bank money, and bringing that money onto digital rails will underpin the next generation of digital finance.
For that reason, it is important to understand how tokenized deposits fit within the broader digital money ecosystem alongside stablecoins and CBDCs. This report examines that landscape and shows how tokenized deposits support the full spectrum of digital money needs. Institutions that understand this shift early will be best positioned to support the evolution of financial markets.”
Institutional adoption of tokenized deposits accelerates
Financial institutions across major markets are already launching tokenized deposits as financial markets move toward always-on settlement. Early use cases include cross-border payments, foreign exchange (FX) settlement and tokenized asset markets.
In the United States, J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys platform is already being used by institutional clients for programmable payments, treasury operations and 24/7 FX settlement. BNY launched a tokenized deposit service in January 2026 to support collateral and margin management, while Citi has been developing its own tokenized deposit infrastructure through Citi Token Services, which enables always-on, real-time movement of funds across markets on the bank’s private, permissioned blockchain network.
Ryan Rugg, Global Head of Digital Assets, Treasury and Trade Solutions at Citi, said: “By cohesively integrating digital tokens with clients’ existing fiat accounts, we combine the innovation of blockchain with the trust and stability of Citi’s global infrastructure, unlocking greater speed, transparency and control in cross-border payments and liquidity management. This is about bringing the benefits of digital assets into a secure, regulated banking environment at scale.”
Across Europe, the Great British Tokenized Deposit (GBTD) pilot, coordinated by UK Finance and involving several major banks, is testing tokenized sterling deposits for use cases including online marketplace payments and digital asset settlement.
Similar initiatives are emerging in Asia, where platforms such as Japan’s DCJPY and multi-currency tokenized deposit deployments by global banks including Standard Chartered are expanding the use of tokenized bank money in corporate treasury and digital asset markets.
Regulatory clarity creates opportunities for banks
Tokenized deposits generally fall under existing banking regulation because they represent commercial bank liabilities rather than a new form of privately issued digital money.
In the United States, the GENIUS Act explicitly addresses payment stablecoins while leaving bank-issued tokenized deposits under existing banking regulation. In the UK, the FCA's proposed framework similarly distinguishes between stablecoins and bank deposits represented on distributed ledger technology.
However, regulators in the EU are still determining how tokenized bank deposits should be classified within existing banking and payments law, creating uncertainty for banks exploring their deployment.
Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management, Standard Chartered Bank said: “We are pragmatic about the near-term challenges. The regulatory framework in many emerging markets is rapidly evolving, and existing capital and foreign exchange controls as well as cross-border payment regulations will continue to govern tokenized deposit flows just as they do with traditional fiat payment flows. Where tokenized deposits currently excel is in enhancing efficiency and transparency within regulatory compliant frameworks.”
For commercial banks, this regulatory distinction creates an opportunity to modernise infrastructure, upgrade product offerings and strengthen their role in the digital payments ecosystem through tokenized deposits. Banks that fail to develop these capabilities risk losing market share as financial markets increasingly move onto digital rails.
Interoperability remains the key infrastructure challenge
Despite growing momentum, scaling tokenized deposits will depend on interoperable infrastructure that allows digital bank money to move seamlessly between financial institutions.
Unlike stablecoins, which can circulate freely on public blockchains, tokenized deposits remain liabilities of individual banks. Their usefulness therefore depends on networks that enable deposits issued by one institution to be transferred and settled with another.
Several initiatives are exploring these models, including Partior, founded by J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, DBS and Temasek, the GBTD (Tokenized Sterling Deposits) project – a continuation of the UK’s Regulated Liability Network (RLN), and the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Agorá, which are testing how commercial bank money can be exchanged across institutions on shared digital infrastructure.
Keith Bear, Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, said: “One of the biggest challenges for tokenized deposits is the implementation and scaling of the inter-bank settlement network to ensure that they can be effectively used for inter-bank transactions. Institutional adoption will in large part be determined by the use cases supported by these networks, as well as achieving the necessary network effects to effectively scale.”
Tokenized deposits could ultimately enable financial markets where assets, payments and collateral move seamlessly across blockchain-based infrastructure. However, the report noted that scaling these systems will also depend on whether underlying blockchain networks are ready to support institutional-scale financial activity.
Joe Lau, co-founder & President of Alchemy noted: “Most of the tokenized deposit conversation centers on regulation, interoperability, and which banks are moving first. But there's a more fundamental question that doesn't get enough attention: is the blockchain infrastructure actually ready for institutional money?
The pace of innovation is accelerating, and the institutions taking it most seriously are thinking in years, not quarters. We've seen them approach infrastructure as a long-term journey rather than a procurement decision — opting for composable and extensible building blocks on proven and compliant infrastructure that integrate into their existing systems over out-of-the-box solutions they'll outgrow.”
The report was produced with contributions from 15 industry leaders, including Standard Chartered Bank, Canton Network, Citi, Digital Asset, J.P. Morgan Kinexys, Ondo Finance, BNY, LayerZero, BMW Group, ERC3643 Association, ABN AMRO, TRON, UK Finance, the University of Cambridge and Alchemy.
The full report is available at https://www.rwa.io/research.
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