Leading banks launch landmark digital payments initiative to scale tokenised commercial bank money

A consortium of leading banks today announced a landmark digital payments initiative designed to connect on-chain financial activity with traditional payment rails, enabling the clearing and settlement of tokenised commercial bank money at scale. 

This innovative solution combines the regulatory, operational, and settlement frameworks of established payment market infrastructure with the programmability and interoperability afforded by blockchain-enabled financial activity.

Modernising money movement across emerging chain networks

Operated by The Clearing House, a U.S.-based payments company owned by 25 of the nation’s largest financial institutions, the initiative aims to modernise money movement across emerging blockchain networks. It will deliver:

On-chain clearing and settlement of tokenised deposits between banks within the existing banking framework, supporting automated workflows, richer transaction data, and 24/7 settlement capabilities.

A connectivity layer linking blockchain-based activity with established fiat rails, such as the RTP® and CHIPS® networks, facilitating seamless movement between digital and traditional commercial bank money.

Tokenised deposits combine the benefits of digital payments, including programmability and interoperability—with the essential role banks play in extending credit and supporting economic growth. This offering addresses growing demand for tokenised deposits by merging on-chain programmability with the trust, settlement certainty, and balance sheet advantages inherent in commercial bank money.

David Watson, President and CEO of The Clearing House, said, “The banking industry has long provided the trusted infrastructure that underpins the movement of money throughout the global economy. The Clearing House is proud to help banks scale on-chain money movement by extending the safety, resiliency, and settlement certainty of regulated bank payment rails.”

The solution will be accessible to financial institutions across the United States, enabling banks of all sizes to participate in the emerging global digital payments ecosystem through a modern, trusted, and interoperable payment infrastructure.

Broad industry perspectives

The initiative has garnered broad support from participant banks, with leaders highlighting its transformative potential.

Mark Monaco, Head of Global Payments Solutions, Bank of America, said,”As a leader in helping clients navigate the evolving digital asset landscape, Bank of America sees significant potential for tokenisation, including tokenised deposits, to improve client experiences and outcomes. This initiative brings together the innovation of digital finance with the trust, scale, and settlement certainty of established bank payment infrastructure, creating an important foundation for future growth.”

Darrel Hackett, U.S. Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group, said, “This initiative is an important step in building a bank-led foundation for digital money movement. At BMO, our approach is use-case-led, focused on developing tokenised deposit capabilities that solve real client needs. This initiative extends those capabilities into a shared clearing and settlement network, enabling seamless, real-time movement of tokenised deposits across institutions while advancing a more integrated, always-on financial ecosystem anchored by regulated banks.”

Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product & Innovation Officer, BNY, said, “This initiative is an important example of bank-led innovation helping individuals and companies gain access to a scalable blockchain network and the practical ability to adopt programmable payments. By leveraging existing, trusted infrastructure at scale, we can help shape the future of money movement to be more secure, interoperable, and efficient.”

Shahmir Khaliq, Head of Services, Citi, added, “At Citi, we are committed to building infrastructure that enables seamless liquidity and payment movement across all markets, asset types, and currencies. The initiative with The Clearing House leverages their central role in the U.S. banking system to bridge traditional and digital networks. With solutions like Citi Token Services now live and at scale, and with tokenised securities rapidly gaining momentum, there is a critical need for The Clearing House to establish clearing infrastructure across member banks for both traditional and tokenised deposits facilitating industry-wide 24/7 and interoperable movement of cash and securities in the future.”

Ted Swimmer, Head of Commercial Banking, Citizens Financial Group, quoted, “Tokenised deposits extend the safety of bank deposits into digital environments with the potential for faster, more programmable payments. As use cases evolve, we’re exploring these capabilities and support a bank-led approach to advancing trusted, interoperable digital payments. The Clearing House is uniquely positioned to bridge on-chain innovation with proven payment infrastructure, enabling interoperability and scale across the banking system.”

Bridgit Chayt, Head of Commercial Payments and Treasury Management, Fifth Third Bank, said, “Fifth Third is committed to advancing payment innovation within a framework of trust and regulatory clarity. The Clearing House is uniquely positioned to develop this capability, and we look forward to contributing to its progress.”

Manish Kohli, Head of Global Payments Solutions, HSBC, added, “At HSBC, we’re advancing tokenisation across multiple markets globally through our Tokenised Deposit Service, enabling 24/7, compliant, API-enabled movement of commercial bank money and supporting interoperability across networks. This initiative is an important step towards scaling tokenised deposits by connecting on-chain activity with established payment rails and enabling interbank clearing and settlement within the regulated banking frameworks, bringing programmability and richer data together with the trust and settlement certainty of commercial bank money.”

Zachary Wasserman, Chief Financial Officer, The Huntington National Bank, said, “This initiative highlights the power of banks working together to shape the future of digital payments while building on the strength of the existing banking system. By collaborating to establish common standards and shared infrastructure, we can unlock innovative, secure, and scalable capabilities that ultimately deliver greater value for our customers.”

Max Neukirchen, Global Co-Head of J.P. Morgan Payments, added, “We’re committed to advancing digital commercial payments. A regulated market-infrastructure solution for clearing and settling tokenised deposits – built on the same proven principles as core payment settlement – is essential to keeping the payments ecosystem stable, resilient, and effective. This institutional solution will be a key building block for scaling on-chain payments and accelerating the momentum we’re seeing with our clients.”

Ken Gavrity, Head of Commercial Banking, KeyBank, quoted, “Key has a long history of contributing to innovation in the payments industry, and we believe the future of money movement will be defined by continued collaboration across the banking sector. This initiative represents an important step in connecting emerging on-chain capabilities with established payment infrastructure. We look forward to seeing this work advance and to the opportunity to help support the evolution of payments in a way that is secure, scalable, and grounded in the strength of the banking system.”

Emma Loftus, Head of Treasury Management, PNC Bank, said, “This initiative represents an important step forward in how banks can deliver modern, secure payment capabilities for our clients. By bringing together the strength of established payment infrastructure with emerging on-chain technology, we can help advance trusted digital assets and enable more efficient, programmable payments. We’re proud to collaborate with The Clearing House and industry peers to help shape the future of bank-led innovation in this space.”

Dan Massey, Chief Enterprise Operations and Technology Officer, Regions Bank, said, “Regions Bank is consistently exploring and developing innovative ways to improve the speed, efficiency, and resiliency of money movement. We believe industry collaboration is essential to advancing tokenised deposit capabilities. As a result of this initiative, banks will be better positioned to support emerging customer needs while maintaining the safety, trust, and regulatory framework that underpin the U.S. banking system. Our participation reflects a commitment to innovation in shaping the future of secure digital payments.”

José Luis Calderón, CEO of Getnet Platforms, a Santander company, said, “Santander supports this initiative as a pragmatic step toward the evolution of next-generation payment rails. As the industry moves toward more digital and programmable forms of value, it is essential to bridge on-chain capabilities with existing financial infrastructure. Initiatives like this can play an important role in enabling interoperability, scalability, and real-world adoption, helping the ecosystem evolve in line with broader developments across markets.”

Leo Salom, President and Chief Executive Officer, TD Bank U.S., added, “The Clearing House’s work to establish a scalable, interoperable tokenised deposit framework helps lay the foundation for the next generation of financial market infrastructure, while maintaining the trust, safety, and regulatory rigour that define the banking ecosystem. We are encouraged by the collaborative, industry-led approach The Clearing House is taking to build interoperable capabilities that can scale across financial institutions. As this infrastructure evolves, we believe it can play a meaningful role in enabling efficient liquidity management to more seamless commercial payments and cross-border transactions for our clients.”

Chris Ward, Head of Enterprise Payments, Truist, said, “As on-chain payments and tokenised deposits scale, they will be grounded in the same principles of trusted clearing and settlement that clients rely on. Payments run on trust — a strong set of operating rules, consistent and predictable ways transactions clear, and the liquidity and infrastructure behind them. That foundation, in place since The Clearing House was established in 1853, enables a robust, reliable, and interoperable system. This initiative builds on those principles — connecting programmable technology with bank-led standards in on-chain environments to enable tokenised deposits at scale and deliver practical benefits to participants. That’s how we move payments forward — extending trusted infrastructure into what comes next.”

Dominic Venturo, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, U.S. Bank, said, “U.S. Bank has long been committed to advancing the future of payments, and we see significant potential in connecting the digital asset ecosystem with trusted banking infrastructure. With the secure and scalable payment rails provided by The Clearing House, this initiative will help build the connectivity needed to support digital money movement innovation.”

Mike Santomassimo, Chief Financial Officer, Wells Fargo, added, “Connecting the innovation of blockchain with established banking infrastructure is essential to scaling digital payments responsibly. Participating in this initiative boosts Wells Fargo’s ability to give our payments clients the benefits of blockchain along with the trust and stability expected from banks.”

Ongoing collaboration and future outlook

The initiative supports diverse use cases, including programmable treasury operations, real-time liquidity management, cross-border payments, agentic commerce applications, digital asset settlement, and automated financial workflows.

Participating financial institutions and The Clearing House will continue collaborating with industry stakeholders to explore future interoperability standards, implementation approaches, and use cases. This cooperative effort aims to support the evolution of trusted digital financial infrastructure and the future of global commerce.