Tokenised deposits and stablecoins complete banks’ digital money

At a recent industry webinar hosted with Fireblocks, bank panelists argued that banks need to offer both tokenised deposits and bank‑issued stablecoins to complete a digital money proposition for corporates and correspondent banks.

Panelists described tokenised deposits as regulated bank liabilities represented on a ledger that remain on the issuer’s balance sheet and inside the bank’s KYC perimeter. Because they stay within the bank’s accounts, tokenised deposits are suitable for programmable cash tasks such as real‑time cash concentration, conditional disbursement, atomic delivery‑versus‑payment settlements and intragroup liquidity management.

Bank‑issued stablecoins were presented as instruments for real‑time cross‑border value transfer. Panelists highlighted that stablecoins can move value across jurisdictions and across capital‑control boundaries that otherwise restrict local currencies.

Speakers reported several use cases entering production, including settlement outside traditional banking hours, instant DvP for asset transactions that currently take days to settle, and treasury visibility across entities without manual reconciliation. When used together, tokenised deposits and stablecoins let a bank manage the full payment and settlement flow for multinational treasurers operating across convertible and controlled currencies.

Demand comes from corporates and from correspondent banks, counterparties and market infrastructure providers seeking connectivity for both instruments. The panel noted that banks without connection capabilities may lose requests for proposals to competitors that can support tokenised‑deposit and stablecoin flows.

Regulation and policy were described as central constraints. Legal, supervisory and capital‑control rules determine what is permissible. Banks must align product design and deployment with local rules on custody, reserve treatment, anti‑money‑laundering checks and cross‑border payments, and those rules can limit the use of tokenised deposits and stablecoins.

The webinar featured Shrutisagar (Shruti) Chandrasekaran, vice president of Global Business Solutions at Fireblocks, with Scott Hamilton, global payments and liquidity expert, as moderator. Panelists framed the two instruments as addressing distinct parts of the payment chain and as complementary when combined.