Wall Street Giants Focus Tokenized Money on Institutions, Not Consumers

tokenized money — Major banks like JPMorgan and Citi are processing trillions of dollars on blockchain systems, but their tokenized payment services remain largely confined to institutional clients and permissioned networks, according to a report.

JPMorgan moves over $3 trillion through its Kinexys blockchain platform, while Citi Token Services handles billions in daily cross-border payments. These systems modernize legacy infrastructure but are designed for wholesale banking between branches and large corporate customers, not for public retail use.

In contrast, U.K. challenger bank Monument plans to tokenize up to £250 million of interest-bearing retail deposits on the Cardano-based Midnight network. The project aims to use zero-knowledge proofs to protect customer data while meeting regulatory requirements, allowing consumers to access tokenized investments and lending through a conventional banking app without needing to understand cryptocurrency directly.

The divergence highlights two paths for tokenization: Wall Street’s focus on internal efficiency and institutional settlement versus newer entrants attempting to bridge the gap to bring blockchain-based financial services to everyday consumers.