Canada's Big Six banks launch interbank tokenized deposit initiative

Canada's six largest banks — BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, RBC, Scotiabank and TD Bank — have launched a joint venture to build a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system, TD announced. The initiative starts with interbank transfers of digital commercial deposits between participating banks before connecting to broader digital-asset networks, with more institutions able to join later.

• Tokenized deposits are digital representations of money already held at a bank, rather than stablecoins issued by a crypto company.
• The project aims to enable faster, programmable, around-the-clock payments while keeping customer funds inside the regulated banking system.
• It follows Project Samara, a March test by the Bank of Canada, RBC and TD that issued and settled a C$100 million bond on a distributed ledger.

The initiative brings most of Canada's largest lenders behind a common model for digital money as banks worldwide race to put deposits on blockchain infrastructure.