BNY Mellon, the largest custodian bank in the United States with over $57.8 trillion in assets under custody, has officially launched its blockchain-based "tokenized deposit" service on January 9, 2026. This move represents a significant expansion of the bank's digital assets business and a deepening of institutional adoption of blockchain technology within traditional finance.
The new service aims to transform traditional bank deposits into on-chain digital assets to increase the efficiency of fund transfers and payments. According to the bank's announcement, the tokenized deposits represent deposits held in customer accounts in the form of digital cash on the blockchain and can be utilized for collateral and margin transactions as well as for fast payments.
Carolyn Weinberg, BNY's Chief Product and Innovation Officer, emphasized the strategic importance of the initiative, stating: "The key here is to reliably connect traditional banking infrastructure and the digital ecosystem." The bank described the service as a step toward a rules-based, near-real-time cash movement system that addresses the shift in global financial markets toward an "always-on operating model."
The launch has attracted a notable roster of early-adopter clients and partners. Key participants include the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) – the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – along with Citadel Securities, DRW Holdings, Ripple Prime, Galaxy, Invesco, Anchorage Digital, and Paxos. Significantly, stablecoin issuer Circle is also among the initial participants.
Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy and Operations at Circle, welcomed the development: "We welcome BNY's support of an always-on financial system, tokenized money and payment stablecoins like USDC. Showing interoperability between these systems not only builds durable bridges between the real economy and the broader internet financial system but also demonstrates that speed and new use cases do not come at the expense of safety and soundness expectations of the world's leading financial institutions."
This tokenized deposit service builds upon BNY Mellon's broader push into digital assets. Recent initiatives include participation in Singapore's Project Guardian, focusing on the interoperability of tokenized deposits, and the November 2025 launch of the BNY Dreyfus Stablecoin Reserves Fund (BSRXX). That money market fund is designed to enable U.S. stablecoin issuers and other institutions to hold reserve assets in compliance with the GENIUS Act, though the fund itself does not invest in stablecoins.
Stephanie Pierce, Deputy Head of BNY Investments, highlighted the strategic context during the fund's launch: "Cash is the cornerstone of the digital asset ecosystem, enabling global capital markets to move toward an always-on, 24/7 environment. Stablecoins are at the forefront of this profound transformation, and we are proud to provide our liquidity leadership and expertise to stablecoin issuers."
The move occurs as analysts project the stablecoin market to grow to over $1.5 trillion by 2030, with the real-world assets market also expected to see rapid growth as value migrates on-chain.
