The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), the world’s largest custodian bank managing $55.8 trillion in assets under custody, announced it is actively exploring tokenized deposits as a means to modernize its massive payments infrastructure.
This initiative, reported widely in financial and crypto media, represents a significant step toward integrating blockchain technology into traditional banking, enabling faster, more efficient cross-border and real-time transactions.
BNY Mellon is testing tokenized deposits—digital representations of customer funds backed by commercial bank money—that can be transferred directly over blockchain networks. This would allow clients to execute payments with near-instant settlement, 24/7 availability, and reduced costs, bypassing some limitations of legacy systems.
The bank’s Treasury Services division already processes about $2.5 trillion in payments daily, making this a high-stakes experiment with potential to reshape global fund flows.
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Carl Slabicki, Executive Platform Owner for Treasury Services, emphasized that the project addresses “legacy technology constraints” and aligns with efforts to enhance instant and cross-border payments. It starts with internal ecosystem transfers but aims to expand across broader financial markets as standards evolve.
BNY Mellon’s move fits into a wave of tokenization adoption by major institutions. In July 2025, BNY Mellon partnered with Goldman Sachs to launch tokenized money market funds (MMFs) on a private blockchain, providing clients with real-time settlement and round-the-clock access.
The bank has teamed up with Ripple to custody the RLUSD stablecoin, handling on-chain reserve management and supporting regulated blockchain transactions. BNY Mellon is among over 30 banks working with SWIFT on a shared blockchain ledger for instantaneous cross-border payments.
BNY’s push is fueled by a pro-crypto U.S. regulatory environment, including stablecoin hearings where BNY’s Caroline Butler testified in March 2025. With 41% of institutions already holding crypto (per BNY surveys), expect further expansions like multi-chain custody and tokenized bonds.
This isn’t just hype—it’s reshaping payments for the digital era, potentially unlocking $10T+ in tokenized markets by 2030. This “push” reflects a strategic shift toward integrating traditional finance (TradFi) with decentralized technologies, driven by regulatory clarity under the Trump administration and growing institutional demand for tokenized assets.
This isn’t isolated—JPMorgan piloted its JPMD tokenized deposit token on Coinbase’s Base blockchain in June 2025, while HSBC offers tokenized deposit services for corporate cross-border transfers. In Europe, nine banks are developing a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin.
These efforts signal a regulatory thaw boosting confidence in digital assets. The announcement has sparked bullish sentiment in crypto circles, with X (formerly Twitter) users highlighting its implications for adoption and assets like XRP due to Ripple ties.
Posts describe it as “massive for traditional finance going on-chain” and a “regulated internet of value,” though some note the tension between innovation and centralization.
This exploratory phase could accelerate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), which have seen on-chain values peak at $29 billion recently. For BNY Mellon, it positions the bank as a bridge between TradFi and DeFi, potentially capturing more crypto custody demand without aggressive deposit grabs, as noted by CEO Robin Vince.
However, challenges like interoperability standards and regulatory alignment remain. As Slabicki put it, this is about “making it easier to move deposits and payments across ecosystems.”