Canada's six largest banks explore tokenized deposit system

On September 22, 2026, Canada's six largest banks announced a joint initiative to explore a shared Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system to enable faster, 24/7, and programmable interbank payments. The move follows a crucial September 10, 2026, ruling by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) stating that tokenized deposits are legally identical to traditional deposits. This regulatory green light allows the banks to build on previous domestic trials, such as the March 2026 Project Samara bond pilot, as they join a highly competitive global race to bring regulated commercial bank money onto blockchain infrastructure.

Features of tokenized deposits

• ▪Tokenized deposits are ordinary bank deposits represented and transferred through distributed-ledger technology, remaining as bank liabilities that are insured, regulated, and held within the regulated banking system
• ▪Tokenized deposits enable near-instant, 24/7 settlement and programmable, conditional payments that execute automatically when specific criteria are met, bypassing the traditional friction of correspondent banking

Canadian banks' joint initiative

• ▪Canada's six largest banks—Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank Group—announced a joint initiative on September 22, 2026, to explore a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system
• ▪The joint Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit initiative announced on September 22, 2026 by Canada's Big Six banks may include other deposit-taking institutions at an appropriate time, though it does not yet commit the lenders to issuing a tokenized deposit
• ▪The first phase of Canada's six largest banks' joint initiative to build a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system focuses on moving tokenized deposits efficiently between the six participating institutions, with a longer-term goal of connecting to other digital asset initiatives

Regulatory framework and guidance

• ▪The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions' September 10, 2026, guidance allows Canadian banks to operate tokenized deposits under existing regulatory frameworks rather than waiting for new legislation, while still requiring compliance regarding technology, cyber, and third-party risks
• ▪On September 10, 2026, Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions clarified that tokenized deposits are not legally distinct from traditional deposits, stating that the underlying technology does not determine a product's legal nature

Project Samara pilot results

• ▪In March 2026, the Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, and Export Development Canada completed Project Samara, a pilot that issued, traded, and settled a 100 million Canadian dollar bond on a distributed ledger
• ▪The Project Samara pilot concluded that atomic settlement can work in principle, though it identified challenges regarding complexity, governance, liquidity, operations, and legal alignment

International tokenization efforts

• ▪The Bank for International Settlements is leading Project Agorá, which includes the Bank of Canada, to test how tokenized commercial bank deposits and wholesale central bank reserves can enhance wholesale cross-border payments
• ▪In the United States, major banks including JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are supporting a bank-led initiative launched in June 2026 and operated by The Clearing House to clear and settle tokenized deposits
• ▪In July 2026, SWIFT announced that its blockchain ledger was ready for trials, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot tokenized cross-border payments

Debatable claims

• ▪Tokenized deposits are superior to stablecoins for digital asset settlement
• ▪Distributed ledger technology is too complex for mainstream interbank settlement