Banks prepare for stablecoins, tokenised deposits and CBDCs

In June 2026 a 140-member consortium including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and Stripe launched a shared stablecoin network called Open USD. At the same time The Clearing House announced a bank-led tokenised-deposit network supported by large US banks including JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. US national bank SoFi placed a stablecoin inside its banking app, and remittance firms Western Union and MoneyGram rolled out dollar tokens across their transfer networks. The European Central Bank plans to bring central bank money onto distributed ledger technology with the wholesale settlement service Pontos scheduled for Q3 2026 and a retail digital euro pilot slated for 2027.

Regulatory proposals and frameworks are developing alongside these launches. In the United States the GENIUS Act has been proposed, Europe has the Markets in Crypto-Assets regime, and the United Kingdom has issued rules addressing systemic stablecoins. These initiatives set requirements for issuance, custody, consumer protection and market conduct.

Market participants are building three broad layers of digital money. Commercial stablecoins typically operate on public or permissioned blockchains and are aimed at fast retail payments and cross-border remittances. Bank-issued tokenised deposits are being developed on permissioned ledgers and remain liabilities on banks’ balance sheets. Wholesale central bank digital currency projects concentrate on interbank settlement and central-bank finality; retail CBDCs raise additional questions about distribution and customer-facing services.

Banks’ payment and liquidity systems must be adapted to handle tokenised instruments. Integrating tokenised deposits requires changes to core deposit ledgers, payment hubs and liquidity management tools so that token balances and on-chain settlements feed into reconciliation, reserve calculations and intraday credit processes. Commercial stablecoins require custody services, on- and off-ramps, stablecoin treasury operations and oversight of non-bank issuers. CBDC deployment will need direct central-bank connectivity, updates to settlement finality rules and new accounting and reporting interfaces.

Rail selection varies by use case. For retail remittances and instant consumer payments, public-chain stablecoins and tokenised rails with broad network reach provide faster customer access. For B2B and wholesale settlement, permissioned ledgers and CBDC rails offer stronger finality and closer integration with correspondent banking and central bank systems. Interoperability measures — such as cross-ledger bridges, wrapped assets or standardised messaging formats — are being explored to limit fragmentation.

Data from RedCompass Labs shows varied readiness across institutions. Many banks have active pilots or proof-of-concept work for tokenised deposits and wholesale CBDC connectivity, while a subset of banks and fintechs lead in integrating commercial stablecoins into consumer and remittance products. Common implementation challenges identified by practitioners include integration with legacy payment hubs, adapting compliance and KYC processes for tokenised flows, and the need for scalable settlement capacity at peak times.

Industry groups and consortia are addressing technical standards, custody models, legal settlement definitions and the APIs that will link bank systems to token rails. A forthcoming webinar hosted with RedCompass Labs will present recent data and discuss implementation approaches for the three layers of digital money.