Anchorage aims to bring banks onchain with new tokenized deposit platform

Federally chartered crypto bank Anchorage Digital is rolling out infrastructure that allows banks to issue tokenized deposits, joining a growing effort by financial institutions to bring traditional bank money onto blockchain networks.

The bank said on Monday that its new platform will help banks to offer round-the-clock payments and settlement services using blockchain technology without replacing their existing core banking systems.

"Many of the banks that we're starting to work with are thinking about tokenized deposits, and how do we start to do [them]," Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley said in an interview with CoinDesk.

The product works by creating a blockchain-based representation of customer deposits while keeping the underlying funds within the bank's traditional deposit accounts. Anchorage will provide the blockchain infrastructure, wallet management and smart contract technology, while banks maintain customer relationships and custody of deposits.

The move comes as banks increasingly look for ways to offer faster payments and settlements in a financial system that still largely operates on business hours and batch processing.

There's a growing debate in financial markets centers on whether stablecoins or tokenized deposits will become the preferred way to move money on blockchain rails. Stablecoins, such as Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT, are typically issued by private companies and backed by U.S. Treasuries in reserves.

Tokenized deposits, by contrast, are digital representations of commercial bank deposits and remain within the traditional banking system.

America's biggest banks, including JPMorgan, Citi and Bank of America, plan to build a shared, tokenized deposit network by the first half of 2027. Blockchain infrastructure firm BitGo (BTGO) is working with ZKsync to build tokenized deposit infrastructure to bring banks onchain.

Anchorage said its platform is designed as a parallel layer that sits alongside existing banking infrastructure rather than requiring institutions to migrate to entirely new systems, a process that can take years and carry significant operational risks.

Read more: America’s largest banks are building a new digital currency network to stop a massive deposit drain