Wall Street banks including JPMorgan and Citi have already moved large sums through blockchain-based systems, but those tokenized payment services remain largely limited to institutional clients and permissioned networks. JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform has processed more than $3 trillion, while Citi Token Services handles billions of dollars in cross-border payments each day, yet neither is open to ordinary savings customers.
UK challenger bank Monument Bank is now trying to bring tokenization to retail depositors. The bank, which has a balance sheet of about $2.4 billion, plans to tokenize as much as £250 million, or roughly $335 million, of retail customer deposits on privacy-focused public blockchain Midnight. According to the report, the deposits would continue to earn interest, be fully backed by the bank, remain redeemable 1:1 for pounds sterling, and stay protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The project is designed to use zero-knowledge proofs to protect customer data while meeting regulatory requirements. Founder Mintoo Bhandari said most tokenization efforts today are still internal bank projects and have not yet given retail users direct access. Over time, Monument Bank also aims to offer services such as fractional private equity, tokenized structured products and Lombard loans through its regular banking app, and may license the infrastructure to other banks through Monument Technology.
Wall Street banks such as JPMorgan and Citi have already used blockchain rails to move large amounts of money, but tokenized payment services are still aimed mainly at institutional clients and permissioned networks rather than ordinary savers.
According to ChainCatcher, JPMorgan’s Kinexys blockchain platform has processed more than $3 trillion, while Citi Token Services handles billions of dollars in cross-border payments each day. Neither service is open to retail savings users.
Monument Bank targets retail deposit tokenization
UK challenger bank Monument Bank is trying to address that gap. The bank, which has a balance sheet of about $2.4 billion, plans to tokenize up to £250 million, or about $335 million, of retail customer deposits on Midnight, a privacy-focused public blockchain.
Those tokenized deposits would continue to pay interest, be fully backed by the bank, remain redeemable 1:1 for pounds sterling, and stay protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Privacy and compliance are central to the design
The project uses zero-knowledge proofs to protect customer data while meeting regulatory requirements. Monument Bank’s approach is to let users access the service without needing to understand or directly use cryptocurrency.
Mintoo Bhandari, founder of Monument Bank, said most tokenization projects today are still internal bank initiatives and have not yet allowed retail users to participate directly in tokenization.
Longer-term plans extend beyond deposits
Over the longer term, the bank plans to offer fractional private equity, tokenized structured products and Lombard loans through its standard banking app, subject to compliance requirements. It is also considering licensing the underlying infrastructure to other banks through its subsidiary, Monument Technology.
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