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- BNY Mellon launches tokenized deposits with Ripple Prime as an early user to boost liquidity and enable faster blockchain settlements.
- Platform mirrors deposits on-chain without replacing bank records, as TradFi moves toward 24/7 blockchain-based operations.
Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the world’s largest custodial bank, has launched tokenized deposit services for institutional clients. The service enables financial institutions to represent traditional deposit balances as on-chain entries using a private blockchain platform.
This innovation is designed to accelerate transaction settlement, improve liquidity management, and enhance efficiency in collateral and margin operations.
Today, our partners at @BNYglobal launched tokenized deposit services for institutional clients – bringing the promise of digital assets directly into the banking system – with Ripple Prime as an early adopter.
We're proud to expand our longstanding, strategic collaboration with… https://t.co/K07aSJn8g1
— Ripple (@Ripple) January 9, 2026
Ripple Prime, the prime brokerage arm of Ripple, is among the first to adopt the new service. Ripple acquired the division in a $1.25 billion deal last year, positioning itself more deeply in institutional digital asset markets, as we reported. BNY’s announcement marks a further step in merging blockchain rails with conventional banking infrastructure.
Carolyn Weinberg, BNY’s Chief Product and Innovation Officer, stated:
“Tokenized deposits provide us with the opportunity to extend our trusted bank deposits onto digital rails — enabling clients to operate with greater speed across collateral, margin, and payments, within a framework built for scale, resilience, and regulatory alignment.”
BNY’s Platform Features and Industry Participation
BNY’s platform mirrors client deposits on a permissioned blockchain. This does not replace traditional bank records but complements them to improve internal workflows. All tokenized entries are governed by BNY’s compliance, control, and risk management frameworks. By maintaining the existing legal structure of bank deposits, the platform avoids introducing regulatory uncertainty often associated with cryptocurrencies or stablecoins.
Other early participants in the platform include Citadel Securities, DRW Holdings, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Circle, and asset manager Baillie Gifford. These firms are expected to use the service to improve payment efficiency and gain access to programmable, round-the-clock liquidity management. As CNF outlined, Ripple and BNY had previously collaborated to offer custodial services for RLUSD, Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin. As per the report, BNY is the primary reserve custodian for RLUSD.
Institutional Push Toward On-Chain Settlement
The move is part of a broader push by financial institutions to use blockchain for around-the-clock settlement and liquidity optimization. Tokenized deposits are being recognized as a viable solution for embedding bank-grade assets onto digital infrastructure.
According to Paxos:
Tokenized deposits are a clear signal that trusted banking infrastructure is moving on-chain.
BNY’s latest rollout follows its pilot of the platform in October 2025. The bank has also partnered with Goldman Sachs to tokenize shares of money market funds, as previously detailed by CNF. JPMorgan and HSBC are also progressing in this direction. JPMorgan’s JPM Coin is being expanded for institutional use, while HSBC plans to launch tokenized deposit services for clients in the U.S. and UAE.
