Canada’s six largest banks explore tokenized Canadian dollar deposits
Canada’s six largest banks are jointly testing tokenized Canadian dollar deposits that could move between financial institutions as digital representations of bank deposits. The project includes BMO, CIBC, National Bank, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD, and begins with transfers between Canadian institutions before potentially linking to other digital asset systems. The initiative follows recent guidance from Canada’s banking regulator, OSFI, which said tokenized deposits are not legally different from traditional deposits because the technology does not change the underlying legal nature. Tokenized deposits remain bank liabilities, unlike fiat-backed stablecoins. The banks say the system is aimed at faster, programmable payments and could later expand to other deposit-taking institutions. The effort also fits into Canada’s broader push to regulate digital money, including a new federal stablecoin framework for non-bank issuers.
