Banks Tested as Open USD, Bank Tokens and CBDCs Go Live

In June 2026 a 140-member consortium including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and Stripe launched Open USD, a shared dollar stablecoin network. In the same month major US banks including JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo unveiled a bank-led tokenised-deposit network via The Clearing House. US bank SoFi integrated a stablecoin into its consumer app, and remittance firms Western Union and MoneyGram began issuing dollar tokens. The European Central Bank moved wholesale central-bank balances to distributed ledger technology with the Pontos platform and scheduled a retail digital-euro pilot for 2027. Regulatory work in major markets includes proposals in the US, the EU’s MiCA rules and the UK’s systemic stablecoin regime.

New data from RedCompass Labs, presented at a webinar with industry panelists, shows banks’ readiness for digital money varies by institution and by use case. Many banks report active pilots and partnerships in stablecoins and tokenised deposits. Fewer banks have completed upgrades to core payments infrastructure, custody arrangements and liquidity-management systems needed for large-scale production.

Panelists described three distinct layers emerging in the digital-money ecosystem. The first layer consists of private and consortium stablecoins used for consumer payments and cross-border transfers. The second layer is bank-issued tokenised deposits for commercial payments, treasury services and interbank settlement. The third layer covers central bank digital currencies used for wholesale settlement and under consideration for retail use.

Stablecoins, including those issued by non-bank consortia and fintechs, are being embedded in consumer apps and remittance corridors and can operate on public or permissioned ledgers. These tokens require custody models, reserve backing arrangements and compliance controls. Bank-issued tokenised deposits run inside regulated banking systems and are designed to integrate with existing balance-sheet and regulatory frameworks, making them suited for B2B and interbank flows. CBDC projects on distributed ledgers are being trialled for wholesale settlement functions; separate policy and operational work is planned for retail pilots.

Banks are implementing specific changes to payments architecture. Firms are building tokenisation engines to represent deposit and central-bank balances as on-ledger tokens, setting up custody and wallet services for institutional and retail clients, developing APIs to link payment hubs to DLT rails, and deploying real-time liquidity and FX management tools for tokenised flows. Integration with existing core systems, middleware, monitoring and reconciliation capabilities is a common technical challenge.

Panelists outlined commercial implications for deposits and liquidity. Tokenised deposits keep customer balances within regulated banks but change how balances move across networks, affecting intraday liquidity and collateral management. Stablecoins issued outside traditional banks can attract retail payment volume away from deposit books unless banks offer competitive token products or custody services. Wholesale CBDC rails could shorten settlement cycles for high-value payments and change intraday settlement risk.

Panelists identified factors that may differentiate institutions in the digital-money market. Early operational integration across payments, custody and treasury functions; clear legal and compliance frameworks for token issuance and redemption; partnerships with fintechs and custodians to provide wallet services; and the ability to connect to multiple rails for tokenised deposits, stablecoins and CBDCs were highlighted. Interoperability and common technical standards were emphasized as necessary for cross-border and B2B use cases.

RedCompass Labs data and the panel discussion present a snapshot of activity in 2026: private stablecoins, bank tokenisation and central-bank DLT projects are running in parallel. Banks and payment providers are moving from pilot stages to production in some areas, while operational readiness, regulatory clarity and technical interoperability vary across markets and institutions.