HSBC Makes ‘Big Bets’ on Blockchain With Tokenization Expansion

HSBC is reportedly due to launch an expansion of its tokenized deposits services.

The global bank already offers that service in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and Luxembourg, and now plans to expand it to corporate clients in the U.S. and United Arab Emirates (UAE) beginning next year, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (Nov. 18).

HSBC’s Tokenized Deposit Service lets clients send money locally and across borders in seconds and at all hours, Manish Kohli, HSBC’s global head of payments solutions, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

“The topic of tokenization, stablecoins, digital money and digital currencies has obviously gathered so much momentum. We are making big bets in this space,” Kohli said.

The report adds that the bank now processes transactions in euros, pounds, US dollars, Hong Kong dollars and Singapore dollars, and will UAE dirhams next year when it expands to the Middle East next year. The launch is scheduled for the first half of 2026.

As Bloomberg noted, HSBC’s move is happening at a time when many other banks have begun exploring how digital assets can speed and streamline payments. It also comes in the wake of the GENIUS Act in the U.S., which establishes new rules for stablecoins, another rapidly-growing category of digital money.

Tokenized deposits (otherwise known as deposit tokens) are digital representations of a bank deposit, backed one-for-one by money on the bank’s balance sheet, and issued using distributed ledger technology (DLT), or blockchain.

“Unlike a stablecoin issued by a nonbank entity and held off-balance sheet, a tokenized deposit remains fully regulated, on-balance sheet and subject to the usual banking liquidity, capital and deposit insurance frameworks,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year.

Because the funds remain part of the bank’s liabilities, tokenized deposits do not weaken the money multiplier or deposit base the way that transforming deposits into stablecoins could.

The timing of tokenized deposits’ rise is no accident, the report said, with corporate treasuries calling for real-time liquidity and multinationals seeking 24/7 settlement systems.

“Cross-border commerce is still encumbered by days-long settlement lags and intermediary fees. Tokenized deposits promise a path forward and offer banks a new way to rebuild their relevance in the payments stack,” PYMNTS wrote.

“From a monetary architecture perspective, tokenized deposits may represent the most feasible route to digital cash without rewriting the banking system from scratch.”