Why Wall Street giants build tokenization money for institutions, not regular consumers

Wall Street giants like JPMorgan and Citi are currently utilizing blockchain for internal cross-border payments, yet these systems remain largely inaccessible to retail consumers. Industry experts argue that this creates a fragmented landscape where liquidity is trapped across disparate, permissioned networks, leading to significant capital inefficiencies. Monument Bank, a U.K. challenger bank, is attempting to bridge this divide by tokenizing up to 250 million pounds of retail deposits on the Midnight blockchain. By leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, the project aims to maintain strict privacy and regulatory compliance while allowing deposits to remain interest-bearing and protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This initiative seeks to provide retail users with seamless access to tokenized assets like private equity and structured products without requiring them to interact directly with crypto infrastructure. The success of this model depends on whether banks can modernize legacy architectures while preserving the trust and security inherent in traditional banking. Ultimately, this shift represents a broader effort to move tokenization beyond institutional silos and into the hands of everyday savers.