The six major banks in Canada jointly launched an interbank tokenized deposit program
The six major banks in Canada announced a joint exploration of a tokenized Canadian dollar deposit system, aimed at accelerating the transfer of funds between financial institutions and ultimately connecting with other digital asset programs. TD Bank announced on Tuesday that the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and Toronto-Dominion Bank Group have jointly formed this joint venture project, with the possibility of more banks joining in the future.The first phase of the project will focus on promoting the transfer of tokenized deposits among participating banks. The parties stated in a joint statement that the first phase aims to enable efficient circulation of tokenized deposits among Canadian financial institutions, with the long-term goal of connecting with other emerging digital asset programs. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of funds and assets already held by banks, differing from independent stablecoins issued by crypto companies; this system allows for 24/7 programmable payments within a regulated banking system.Canada's move comes as global banks compete to put deposits on the blockchain. In the United States, regional banks are building a shared tokenized deposit network, while JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have also launched their own institutional products. Recently, Swift has begun testing cross-border payments for tokenized deposits. Additionally, the Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank completed the Project Samara test in March this year, issuing, trading, and settling CAD 100 million (approximately USD 71 million) bonds on a distributed ledger; in May, Shopify and National Bank of Canada also supported the launch of a regulated digital Canadian dollar.
