Canada's six biggest banks agree to explore shared digital-dollar network

RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC and National Bank agreed to explore a shared Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system. The banks announced the project Tuesday. The first phase would move deposits between participating banks. The first phase would not move deposits into consumer wallets. A tokenized deposit represents a regular bank deposit as a digital token on a shared ledger. The project is not a new cryptocurrency or a central bank digital currency. The banks said the system should be competitive and secure. The system would retain safeguards that govern commercial bank money. The banks want other Canadian deposit-taking institutions to be able to join eventually. The banks have not set a launch date. The project could theoretically let banks settle transfers instantly and around the clock. The project could also support payments that trigger automatically when specified conditions are met. Customers likely would not see the system directly. The Bank of Canada received almost 90,000 responses to a 2023 consultation on a possible digital Canadian dollar. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they would not use a hypothetical digital Canadian dollar. The Royal Canadian Mint sold its MintChip digital-cash pilot in 2016. The MintChip app shut down in 2018. JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are building a separate tokenized deposit network in the United States through The Clearing House. That network targets a first-half 2027 launch. Thirty-nine U.S. state banking associations have formed the BankChain Alliance for community and regional lenders. Scotiabank and TD are among 21 banks backing a separate joint U.S. dollar stablecoin. That stablecoin project also targets the first half of 2027. BMO went live this year as the first bank on CME Group's tokenized cash platform on Google Cloud. The platform lets institutional clients move U.S. dollars around the clock for margin and collateral.