How banks can operationalize digital currencies

A webinar moderated by Scott Hamilton, a global payments and liquidity expert, will examine how banks can operationalize stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised deposits, and how they can address associated settlement, liquidity and control challenges. The event date has not been announced.

The session will compare technical and operational requirements. Stablecoins typically require minting and burning processes, merchant and customer on- and offboarding, and often run on private or public blockchains operated by third parties. CBDCs, issued by central banks on ledger systems, require integration with existing central bank and commercial bank infrastructure and may have different settlement rules. Tokenised deposits combine bank-issued liabilities with token rails and raise questions about whether the bank or a third party controls the ledger and token lifecycle.

Speakers will examine how settlement models differ across these instruments and what that means for bank liquidity. Real-time payment systems already push banks to hold more intraday liquidity; token-based settlement that operates around the clock increases demand for continuous funding and intraday liquidity management. Banks acting as minting or redemption agents will need to maintain balances to support on-demand conversions and may face extra costs from liquidity buffers, connecting to new rails and supporting faster settlement finality.

Operational ownership is a central topic. Custody of private keys, distributed ledger operation, smart contract execution and token issuance engines can sit outside a bank’s direct control. Panelists will identify functions banks are likely to retain-customer onboarding, know-your-customer checks, compliance monitoring, client relationship management and provision of settlement balances-and functions that may be outsourced or managed by network operators. The discussion will consider how these arrangements differ from current third-party relationships and what banks must do to preserve visibility and risk management when processes are handled externally.

The webinar will highlight several costs that can be overlooked: integrating core banking systems with token rails; operational costs of 24/7 settlement and monitoring; compliance costs across multiple jurisdictions; and capital or liquidity charges for maintaining buffers to support instant redemptions. Panelists will outline methods banks can use to model these costs and weigh the trade-offs between building in-house capabilities and using external providers.

Regulatory uncertainty remains. After a slowdown in CBDC discussions in 2024, the US GENIUS Act renewed interest in stablecoins and spurred debate about tokenised finance. Panelists will consider how banks can set up internal governance frameworks, compliance guardrails and cross-jurisdictional controls that can adapt as rules are finalised.

The session will also examine services banks could offer around digital money. Functions such as custody, transaction monitoring, credit provision, settlement finality and client onboarding may generate revenue if banks provide them for tokenised assets and digital cash. Speakers will assess how banks might use existing strengths-regulated deposit taking, customer relationships and balance sheet capacity-to develop products for tokenised finance.

The webinar will convene industry specialists to address remaining questions on infrastructure, settlement and control as digital currencies move toward practical deployment.