Big Banks Accelerate Tokenized-Deposit Push in Second Quarter

Tokenized deposits are blockchain-based representations of commercial bank money that remain liabilities of the issuing lender, unlike stablecoins commonly issued outside the banking system. They promise round-the-clock, near-instant and programmable settlement while preserving established bank compliance and balance-sheet frameworks. For large banks, the technology is both defensive and offensive: it can keep corporate cash and payment flows inside regulated institutions, modernize legacy treasury services and create fee-generating products as financial activity migrates onto distributed ledgers.

Momentum accelerated in the second quarter of 2025. On June 24, J.P. Morgan said Kinexys was piloting JPMD, a permissioned U.S. dollar deposit token, on Coinbase’s Base network for near-instant, 24/7 institutional settlement. J.P. Morgan Payments generated $4.7 billion of quarterly revenue, up 4% year on year. On July 15, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said the bank was considering a Citi stablecoin while remaining very active in tokenized deposits. Citigroup reported $21.7 billion in second-quarter revenue and $4.0 billion in net income.