CoinDesk
A UK challenger bank is testing whether tokenized deposits can work for ordinary savers, not just Wall Street counterparties. Monument Bank plans to tokenize up to £250 million ($335 million) of retail customer deposits on the Midnight blockchain, keeping the deposits interest-bearing, fully backed and redeemable one-for-one in pounds sterling under Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection. Founder Mintoo Bhandari said customers would interact with a normal sterling savings account and never need to know they were using blockchain infrastructure.
Why it matters
JPMorgan's Kinexys platform moves more than $3 trillion across institutional clients, and Citi Token Services processes billions in cross-border payments daily, but both run on permissioned networks closed to retail savers. Monument's design explicitly targets that gap: pounds held by ordinary customers, settled on a public chain, with zero-knowledge proofs shielding transaction data. Midnight Foundation president Fahmi Syed argued private bank ledgers cannot talk to each other without bridges, and bridges leak sensitive commercial information, making public-chain ZK the regulatory path Monument is betting on.
Market impact
Lynq Network CEO Jerald David added that treasury desks already juggle tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins and conventional correspondent accounts on separate rails today, fragmenting liquidity across networks. If Monument's model lands, Bhandari said Monument Technology would license the stack to other banks. The longer-term target is to give those same retail customers access to fractional private equity, tokenized structured products and Lombard lending inside the same regulated banking app, the consumer-facing layer of tokenized money the giants have so far left on the shelf.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Monument Bank planning to tokenize?
Monument plans to tokenize up to £250 million ($335 million) of retail customer deposits on the Midnight blockchain, with deposits remaining interest-bearing, fully backed and redeemable one-for-one in pounds sterling under FSCS protection.
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How is Monument's approach different from JPMorgan or Citi?
JPMorgan's Kinexys moves more than $3 trillion across institutional clients and Citi Token Services processes billions in cross-border payments daily, but both run on permissioned networks closed to retail. Monument's design explicitly targets ordinary savers.
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Will customers need to know they are using blockchain?
No. Founder Mintoo Bhandari said customers would interact with a normal sterling savings account and never need to know they were using blockchain infrastructure underneath.
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How does Midnight protect customer data on a public chain?
Midnight uses zero-knowledge proofs to shield transaction data, addressing the privacy gap that Midnight Foundation president Fahmi Syed said emerges when private bank ledgers connect to each other through leaky bridges.
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What happens if Monument's tokenized deposit model works?
Bhandari said Monument Technology would license the infrastructure to other banks, with the longer-term aim of giving retail customers access to fractional private equity, tokenized structured products and Lombard lending inside the same regulated app.
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