Banks test tokenised deposits
HSBC completed a tokenised deposits pilot on the Canton Network and JPMorgan plans to integrate its JPM Coin with the same network, showing banks are testing programmable settlement rails. The pilots are pitched as institutional experiments rather than consumer crypto rollouts. ((coingape.com))
HSBC has completed a pilot that put bank deposits on the Canton Network, as JPMorgan prepares to bring its own deposit token there in 2026. (disruptionbanking.com) HSBC said on April 13 that the test simulated issuing, transferring and settling its Tokenised Deposit Service on Canton. The bank said the pilot achieved “atomic settlement,” meaning payment and asset transfer happened at the same time. (finextra.com) JPMorgan’s parallel move started earlier. Canton Network said on January 7 that Kinexys by J.P. Morgan and Digital Asset plan to issue JPM Coin natively on Canton in phases through 2026. (canton.network) A tokenised deposit is a digital representation of money already held at a bank, not a new consumer coin. JPMorgan describes JPM Coin as a United States dollar-denominated deposit token for institutional clients that can move on blockchain rails around the clock. (jpmorgan.com) Canton is the shared network both banks are testing. Canton says it is a public blockchain built for regulated finance, with privacy controls that let firms share infrastructure without exposing all transaction data. (canton.network) HSBC has been moving this product from pilot to live use. The bank launched its Tokenised Deposit Service for corporate clients in Hong Kong on May 22, 2025, and said Ant International was the first client to use it. (about.hsbc.com.hk) On April 13, HSBC also said it was expanding that service to the United States for eligible corporate and institutional clients. The bank said the service is meant for treasury management, tokenised-asset settlement and links between blockchain workflows and bank payment rails. (businesswire.com) The immediate use case is not retail trading. HSBC’s statements describe corporate cash movement and settlement, while JPMorgan markets JPM Coin for institutional peer-to-peer transfers and digital-asset transactions. (businesswire.com) (jpmorgan.com) Banks have spent years testing private blockchain systems that worked like separate islands. Putting deposit tokens on a network both institutions can use points to a newer goal: programmable bank money that can settle against tokenised bonds, funds or other assets on shared infrastructure. (ledgerinsights.com) (canton.network) That does not make these systems open to everyone. HSBC said its United States rollout is limited to eligible clients and subject to approvals and onboarding, and Canton describes its model as public infrastructure with controls tailored for regulated institutions. (businesswire.com) (canton.network) The next test is whether these pilots turn into routine settlement flows. For now, two of the world’s largest banks are using the same network to see if ordinary bank deposits can behave more like software. (disruptionbanking.com) (canton.network)
