Canada’s big six banks launch tokenized deposit project

Canada’s six largest banks are developing a tokenized deposit system to enable faster, programmable interbank transfers using blockchain, aiming to modernize payments and connect with digital asset networks.

Canada's six largest banks—Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank Group—have jointly launched a project to develop a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system. This initiative aims to enable faster and programmable interbank transfers by representing traditional bank deposits as digital tokens on a blockchain or distributed ledger. The first phase will focus on transferring these tokenized deposits among the participating banks, with plans to eventually connect the system to broader digital asset networks. Tokenized deposits remain regulated bank liabilities, legally treated as equivalent to standard deposits and backed one-to-one by cash. The project is still in development, with no commercial launch date announced, and may expand to include more banks. This move aligns Canada with global efforts to modernize payment systems and use regulated bank money for blockchain settlement, rather than relying solely on cryptocurrencies or stablecoins.