Canada’s lenders have recently launched a joint effort to study a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system, aiming to keep the country’s payments rails competitive as digital money develops worldwide.
On September 22, 2026, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank Group said they are working together on digital money solutions denominated in Canadian dollars.
The first focus is tokenized deposits: digital records of ordinary commercial-bank deposits that can be transferred on distributed-ledger or similar infrastructure.
The funds would remain deposits at the issuing bank rather than becoming a separate crypto-style asset.
The banks framed the work as responsible innovation.
They want faster, more efficient, and programmable payments for Canadian customers while keeping safety, financial stability, and regulatory oversight intact.
The opening phase would test efficient movement of tokenized deposits among participating institutions.
Over a longer horizon, the group hopes to link the system with other digital-asset projects.
Additional deposit-taking institutions could be invited later.A tokenized deposit is not a new form of money in legal terms.
It is a representation of money already held at a regulated bank.
That distinction matters.
Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions clarified earlier in September that tokenized deposits are not legally distinct from traditional deposits; the technology used does not change the product’s legal character.
Banks must still consult supervisors before introducing novel offerings.
The collaboration sits in a broader context. Canada has already run related experiments, including Project Samara, a Bank of Canada pilot with RBC and TD that examined blockchain for government-bond issuance and settlement. BMO has also pursued tokenized cash and deposit work with other partners.
South of the border, large US banks are building tokenized-deposit networks, and individual institutions such as JPMorgan already offer deposit tokens to institutional clients.
Canadian banks with substantial US operations sit at the intersection of both efforts.Supporters see several possible benefits.
Settlement could occur around the clock instead of being limited by batch windows.
Programmability could allow payments to execute automatically when conditions are met, useful for trade finance, securities settlement, or supply-chain flows.
Because the tokens represent insured bank deposits, the model stays inside the existing prudential and deposit-protection framework rather than relying on unregulated stablecoins.Important details remain unannounced.
The banks have not named a technology platform, a commercial launch date, a governance structure, or a formal role for Payments Canada, which operates the country’s core payment systems.
Interbank token transfers typically require both a customer-facing token movement and a separate settlement step between banks, which could still use conventional real-time gross settlement or, eventually, tokenized central-bank money.
The project is therefore exploratory rather than a finished product.
Its success will depend on technical interoperability, operational resilience, clear rules for liquidity and settlement finality, and continued alignment with supervisors.
If those pieces come together, Canada’s major banks would have a shared, regulated channel for digital Canadian-dollar deposits that can evolve alongside global markets without leaving the commercial banking system.
