Canada’s Big Six Banks Explore Shared CAD Tokenized Deposit Network

• Canada’s six largest banks are jointly exploring a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system, starting with interbank transfers.
• OSFI said on Sept. 10 that tokenized deposits are not legally distinct from traditional deposits.
• The banks set no launch date and said other deposit-taking institutions may join later.

Canada’s six largest banks are jointly exploring a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system, an effort they framed as a way to keep the country’s payments infrastructure competitive as digital money develops globally.

In a joint statement dated Sept. 22, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, The Bank of Nova Scotia and TD Bank Group said they are examining Canadian-dollar digital money solutions, beginning with tokenized deposits. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of conventional bank deposits that can be recorded and transferred on a blockchain or similar ledger.

The banks said the project seeks to deliver faster, more efficient and programmable payments while preserving safety, stability and regulatory oversight. The first phase aims to move tokenized deposits efficiently across Canadian financial institutions, with a longer-term goal of connecting to other emerging digital asset initiatives. Participants said other deposit-taking institutions may be included at an appropriate time. No launch date or technology vendor was named.

The announcement followed a Sept. 10 statement from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. OSFI said tokenized deposits are “not legally distinct from traditional deposits” and that the underlying technology of a product does not determine its legal nature. The regulator still expects institutions to comply with existing rules, including technology, cyber and third-party risk guidance, and to engage their OSFI lead supervisors before launching novel products.

The exploratory work keeps customer funds inside the regulated banking system rather than issuing a new stablecoin. Eric Richmond, Coinbase Canada’s country director and CEO, told CoinDesk it was “encouraging to see Canada’s largest banks moving together on tokenized deposits” and called the move “a clear sign that more of the financial system is moving onchain.”

Coverage from The Block and Decrypt underscored that the initial design is interbank plumbing, not a consumer wallet product. For crypto investors, the signal is that major banks are treating tokenized commercial-bank money as an extension of deposits, not a parallel asset class, while remaining at an exploratory stage with no committed timeline.