Banks Step Up Tokenized Deposit Push as UK Finance and Major Lenders Issue Onchain Cash Report

Tokenized deposits are digital representations of bank deposits on a blockchain and remain liabilities of the issuing banks, subject to deposit protection, capital and anti-money laundering rules. Alongside stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, they could underpin onchain payments while preserving commercial banks’ role in money creation and settlement.

RWA.io disclosed the report on March 23, 2026, incorporating views from UK Finance, Citi, BNY, JPMorgan’s Kinexys and Standard Chartered, among others. Lloyds Banking Group and Archax completed the United Kingdom’s first public-blockchain tokenized deposit transaction on Canton Network in January that year, but did not disclose the amount. Seven other major banks and building societies are participating in the pilot, with testing expected to continue until mid-2026.