Anchorage Launches Tokenized Deposit Platform for Banks
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank, announced Monday a new platform that lets banks issue and manage tokenized deposits on blockchain rails.
- The platform enables 24/7 payments and settlement without requiring banks to overhaul core banking systems, addressing a financial system that still largely runs on business hours and batch processing.
- Anchorage's product creates a blockchain-based representation of customer deposits while keeping the underlying funds in traditional bank accounts — Anchorage supplies infrastructure, wallet management, and smart contract technology, while banks retain custody and customer relationships.
- CEO Nathan McCauley said the banks Anchorage is working with are actively exploring tokenized deposits as a way to move money onchain, framing it as an alternative to stablecoins like Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT, which are backed by U.S. Treasuries.
- JPMorgan, Citi, and Bank of America plan to build a shared tokenized deposit network by the first half of 2027, according to the report.
- BitGo is separately working with ZKsync to build tokenized deposit infrastructure to bring banks onchain, signaling multiple firms racing to serve the same institutional demand.
Why it matters: Banks gain a path to 24/7 settlement without the multi-year, high-risk process of replacing core systems, while stablecoin issuers like Circle face a regulated-bank competitor staying inside the traditional perimeter. With JPMorgan, Citi, and Bank of America already targeting a shared tokenized deposit network by H1 2027, Anchorage's platform enters an increasingly crowded institutional race.
Ask SkimNews
