Wells Fargo is the latest of the big US banks to unveil plans for a tokenized deposit offering on its permissioned blockchain, starting in the fall. Like JP Morgan and Citi, it is targeting corporate and commercial clients with a 24/7/365 initial offering that supports US dollars and sterling. The bank has already been participating in Swift blockchain trials for cross border payments.
“Launching tokenized deposits is an important step forward as we expand payment options, including on-chain solutions, for our corporate and commercial clients, who will be able to take advantage of this capability without experiencing any change to how they interface with Wells Fargo,” said Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo, while emphasizing the use of its “established banking infrastructure.”
While many similar offerings require an explicit movement from a conventional account into a tokenized deposit account, Wells Fargo said it will automatically route payments through the solution when they can “improve speed, timing, and flexibility”. Both JP Morgan and Citi launched basic services before layering on functionality, and Wells Fargo is no different, with plans to add programmability in the future as well as more currencies and jurisdictions.
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