Standard Chartered launches Tokenised Deposits solution in Hong Kong as first market in global network

Standard Chartered has announced the launch of its Tokenised Deposits solution in Hong Kong, marking the first market in the Group to offer this solution to corporate clients. 

Leveraging the benefits of tokenisation and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)‘s EnsembleTX infrastructure, the solution enables corporate treasurers, banks, investment platforms, and digital asset businesses to enhance the efficiency of their treasury, liquidity, and operational activities. The Bank plans to expand the solution to additional markets over time.

Mary Huen, CEO of Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia at Standard Chartered, said, “We welcome the latest initiatives announced by HKMA at Hong Kong FinTech Week under the ‘DART’ framework. Standard Chartered has been a major participant in the HKMA’s EnsembleTX, contributing to its development and some of its earliest real-value transaction use cases.” 

“This has given us first-hand experience of how tokenisation can enhance efficiency, transparency, and interoperability across financial markets. Building on this foundation, we are proud to launch our Tokenised Deposits in Hong Kong, the first in our global network. This underscores Hong Kong’s position as a leading digital asset hub and reinforces our commitment to innovation and supporting our clients’ evolving treasury, liquidity, and digital asset needs across borders.”

Combining trust with programmability

Built on Standard Chartered’s proprietary blockchain infrastructure, the solution combines the trust of regulated bank deposits with the programmability and capabilities of tokenised assets. This enables eligible clients to utilise commercial bank deposits within digital treasury and investment workflows, including intragroup liquidity management.

Developed with support from the HKMA’s Supervisory Incubator for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and powered by EnsembleTX infrastructure, the solution allows tokenised deposits to be transferred in real time across participating banks. Inter-bank settlement of tokenised deposit transactions occurs in central bank money, including wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), on a 24/7 basis.

The solution enhances efficiency, interoperability, and settlement predictability while significantly reducing counterparty risk as value moves between financial institutions.

Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Transaction Services & Digital Assets at Standard Chartered, said, “The value of tokenised deposits lies in their ability to help clients move and manage liquidity more efficiently across institutions and markets. This launch brings digital money into practical treasury and investment workflows, supported by the trust and controls of the banking system.”

“By working across the ecosystem, we are addressing real client needs and playing our part in taking tokenisation from experimentation towards broader scalable adoption.”

Early adoption and ecosystem partnerships

The launch strengthens Standard Chartered’s digital asset proposition and contributes to the development of Hong Kong’s tokenised assets ecosystem. The solution is already gaining traction, with China AMC, Finloop, and PantherTrade executing live tokenised deposit transactions and settlement of tokenised money market funds powered by the HKMA EnsembleTX.

Additionally, Standard Chartered is partnering with Fireblocks to embed banking capabilities in the platform and provide native access to the digital asset client ecosystem. Hashkey has also joined the ecosystem, further expanding the solution’s reach. Together, these companies are exploring how tokenised deposits can enhance institutional treasury management and improve connectivity across investment and capital markets activities.

As adoption accelerates and use cases continue to evolve, tokenised deposits are expected to unlock broader benefits for the real economy and drive greater innovation across financial markets.