Bank of New York Mellon is giving its deposits a blockchain makeover. The custody giant announced a tokenized deposit service that turns traditional bank deposits into on-chain tokens representing cash clients already hold at BNY.
According to Bloomberg, the service targets big institutional clients who can now move money on digital rails. The token is essentially regular bank money "dressed for the blockchain age," as the firm described.
The eclectic partner list includes Intercontinental Exchange, Citadel Securities, DRW, Ripple Prime (Ripple's prime brokerage arm), asset manager Baillie Gifford, and stablecoin issuer Circle — a signal that blockchain plumbing has gone mainstream among traditional powerhouses.
Settlement Leg for Tokenized Securities
Tokenized deposits could play a key role in the broader push to tokenize securities like stocks and bonds, acting as the settlement leg that enables real-time trade completion. BNY's chief product and innovation officer, Carolyn Weinberg, said the goal is to bridge trusted banking infrastructure with emerging digital rails without asking institutions to take a leap of faith.
BNY now joins JPMorgan (JPM Coin) and HSBC (expanding its own tokenized deposit offering this year). The move comes on the heels of the newly passed Genius Act, underscoring a simple reality: banks aren't replacing money — they're upgrading how it moves.