Why aren’t tokenized deposits moving faster?

The BIS has questioned the slow adoption of tokenized deposits, prompting a closer look at major multibank initiatives like the UK’s Great British Tokenised Deposits (GBTD) and the German-led Commercial Bank Money Token (CBMT). While single-bank solutions exist, the industry is now focusing on interoperability and clearing layers to facilitate interbank payments. GBTD, coordinated by UK Finance, has moved to a live pilot phase involving seven banks, including Barclays and HSBC, to test retail and wholesale use cases. Simultaneously, Germany’s CBMT has successfully executed live multibank transactions between corporate giants like Siemens and Evonik, supported by a regulatory classification from BaFin. Both projects identify coordination among diverse banking stakeholders and legacy system integration as primary hurdles to scaling. Regulatory clarity remains a critical bottleneck, particularly in Europe, where the lack of a harmonized legal definition for tokenized deposits risks market fragmentation. These initiatives are vital for the RWA market as they aim to bridge the gap between traditional bank money and programmable digital assets, ensuring that tokenized deposits retain essential KYC and AML protections.