Tokenized Deposit Networks: The 5-Minute Guide for Bank Leaders

2025 was the year of the stablecoin. With the passage of The GENIUS Act in July of last year, banks gained a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins in the U.S. that had been sorely missing. Naturally, they began to look at ways to integrate digital dollars into their balance sheet and use them for lending in the fractional reserve banking system.

2026 is quickly becoming the year of the tokenized deposit. Not surprisingly, additional regulatory clarity paved the way. Back in April, the FDIC proposed a rule confirming that deposit insurance “does not depend on the technology or record keeping used to record a bank’s deposit liabilities.” In plain terms, a tokenized deposit is treated like any other deposit sitting in your core today.

At Stablecore, we want to make sure bank executives and boards everywhere understand the evolution of tokenized deposits and their budding networks. So we’ve put together this guide - think of it as nine months’ worth of updates in just five minutes.

Tokenized deposits: one name but three different models

The term “tokenized deposit” gets used for three very different things:

1. Intrabank settlement networks (e.g., CUBIX, and formerly Signet and Silvergate Exchange Network) move deposits between clients of the same bank, 24/7. They are simple book transfers with no reserve settlement.

2. Intrabank tokenized deposits (e.g., JPMorgan’s JPMD) put a mirror deposit token on a blockchain, which allows atomic settlement against other tokenized assets. Both parties must bank with the same institution, so it does not scale past the issuing bank’s client base. For global banks serving multinationals, the gains are real: longer banking windows, quicker settlement, and true traceability.

3. Interbank tokenized deposits let any participating bank send and receive tokenized deposits with another bank. Several U.S. networks are competing to build it. Each must decide how and when to settle with reserves through Fed master accounts, and whether to tokenize each bank’s own deposits or use a single universal deposit coin.

The 2026 network map

Money-center banks have the scale to answer the tokenized deposit question for themselves using the intrabank model explained above, while regional and community institutions without global scale need interbank (option #3 above) and now have their own doors to walk through.

In the table below, we’ve provided a summarized version of the evolving networks and who’s participating. It’s important to note that we’re providing this info for the industry’s awareness. Stablecore does not own or have an interest in any of these networks. We are an enablement and implementation partner to them.

Also worth watching: Circle’s Arc and Stripe’s Tempo could become substitutes for bank-owned networks.

Why tokenized deposits matter

Some executives ask whether these instruments will still be needed if wires, RTP, FedNow, and ACH keep improving. Better rails would absorb some use cases. But for the ones already live on blockchains, there’s no going back. They include: crypto market settlement, tokenized securities and collateral, cross-border B2B payments, remittances, trade finance, dollar access/FX hedging, and agentic commerce/payments.

The core advantages are faster settlement, programmable payments through smart contracts, a durable audit trail, and better liquidity management.

Banks will need both stablecoins and tokenized deposits

Leaders of the tokenized deposit networks mostly agree this is not either/or.

Stablecoins are issued by non-bank entities under the GENIUS Act and backed one-to-one by high-quality liquid assets, mostly Treasury bills. They are bearer instruments, like cash. They settle instantly without moving bank reserves, which is why they beat wires on speed.

Tokenized deposits are commercial bank money, recorded on a blockchain instead of a core ledger. They are account-based. Think of a faster, programmable version of ACH or wire, on a ledger the bank still controls.

Stablecoins also have a head start. They exist today with trillions in volume and have survived previous crypto winters. Tokenized deposits are just emerging. Because the GENIUS Act requires full reserve backing, stablecoin issuers have become large buyers of treasuries, which gives them weight in Washington that tokenized deposits lack. Banks need a point of view on both.

Six open items

Pilots are moving, but these open items will shape how tokenized deposits scale:

1. Identity and KYC/KYB portability across institutions

2. Legal and accounting treatment of on-chain liability changes

3. Deposit insurance pass-through in omnibus token structures

4. Common governance and standards versus a fragmented ecosystem

5. Operational resilience against bugs, hacks, or outages

6. The implications of 24/7 deposit mobility on funding and liquidity

Stablecore’s roadmap for the CEO and board

As we head closer to 2027, success does not require tearing out your core or starting from scratch. The path is integration, not reinvention.

• Assess your rails. Can your infrastructure support digital assets and 24/7 liquidity from one hub, with a smooth client experience? If not, you may be exposed to deposit flight.

• Partner for speed. Building blockchain infrastructure in house is slow and costs millions. Partner with a regulated provider that can overlay tokenization on the core you already run.

• Lean on your advantages. Banks hold what fintechs cannot copy: FDIC insurance, the ability to pay interest, and credit relationships built over decades.

Citi projects $100 to $140 trillion in annual bank token transaction turnover by 2030, per its June 2026 Tokenization 2030 report. Deposit flight is often subtle. It shows up when a treasurer moves working capital to the bank with modern rails. The banks that own the next decade of commercial banking will pair the safety and yield of the deposit franchise with the speed of programmable money.

Want to learn more about tokenized deposits? Join the upcoming webinar I’ll be leading for Bank Director, “Tokenized Deposit Networks: A Practical Guide for the Banking C-Suite,” taking place on December 1, 2026 from 2-3 PM ET. Register here.

Elements of this blog post were previously published by Banking Exchange, as seen here.