Canada’s Big Six Banks Launch Tokenized Deposit Initiative

tokenized deposit initiative — Canada’s six largest banks are launching a joint initiative to explore a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system for interbank transfers. The project, announced by TD Bank on September 22, 2026, aims to create a shared platform for moving digital representations of commercial bank deposits.

The initial testing phase will focus on transferring these tokenized deposits between the participating institutions: Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank. The longer-term goal is to connect this system to broader digital asset ecosystems.

The banks stated the initiative could enable faster, programmable, and around-the-clock payments while keeping customer funds within the regulated banking system. This move aligns with a global trend of commercial banks exploring deposit tokenization for cross-border and wholesale payments.

The project represents a significant step by traditional financial institutions in Canada to leverage blockchain-like technology for settlement efficiency. It follows similar tokenized deposit experiments by major banks in other jurisdictions, including the United States, Europe, and Asia.