WatcherGuru
Canada's six biggest banks have launched a joint tokenized deposits project aimed at enabling 24/7 blockchain-based payments. The lineup spans the country's entire banking core: Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank of Canada, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Why it matters
Tokenized deposits are commercial bank money represented on blockchain rails, meaning payments can settle around the clock without routing through legacy batch-processing windows. What stands out is the coordination: rather than each bank piloting in isolation, all six majors are building a shared standard, which is the fastest way tokenized money goes from experiment to infrastructure.
Market impact
The move adds Canada to the growing list of jurisdictions where regulated lenders are absorbing blockchain rails rather than resisting them. If the project scales, domestic payments, interbank settlement, and eventually cross-border transfers gain a 24/7 settlement layer backed by the country's largest balance sheets. Watch for whether the pilot extends to interbank transactions and how Canadian regulators position it relative to stablecoin and central bank digital currency work.
Frequently asked questions
-
Which Canadian banks are part of the tokenized deposits project?
Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank of Canada, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the six largest banks in Canada.
-
What is a tokenized deposit?
A tokenized deposit is commercial bank money represented as a digital token on blockchain rails, allowing transfers to settle around the clock instead of through legacy banking hours.
-
How do tokenized deposits differ from stablecoins?
Tokenized deposits are direct claims on a commercial bank's balance sheet, while stablecoins are typically issued by non-bank entities. Both run on blockchain rails, but tokenized deposits keep the money inside the regulated banking system.
-
Why is it significant that all six banks launched this together?
Coordinated development means the banks are building a shared standard rather than competing pilots, which is the fastest path for tokenized money to move from experiment to production payment infrastructure in Canada.
-
What would 24/7 blockchain-based payments change for Canadian banking?
Payments and settlement would no longer wait for business hours or batch-processing windows, enabling instant transfers any day of the week, with potential extensions to interbank and cross-border settlement.
Glassnode
CoinDesk
TheBlock
CryptoSlate
WuBlockchain
Crypto Rank News