Citi wins bank support for tokenized deposit tools

• Key insights: Bangkok-based The Siam Commercial Bank will use Citi's 24/7 clearing and tokenized deposit service, the first financial institution to use the technology since the New York-based bank merged its blockchain and cross-border payment products. 
• What's at stake: The deal is a sign that the banking industry is looking past individual tokenized deposit platforms and toward interoperability as pressure mounts from crypto firms.  
• Expert quote: "While widespread adoption still lies ahead, attention is increasingly focused on interoperability, liquidity management, operating model transformation, and the development of viable commercial models," Michael Levens, vice president, financial services payments lead at Capgemini, told American Banker. 

Bangkok-based The Siam Commercial Bank is the first financial institution to sign on to use Citi's 24/7 clearing and tokenized deposit service since the New York-based bank merged its blockchain and payments technology.

The service combines tokenized deposit service — which was a 2025 American Banker Innovation of the Year — with its always-on payment infrastructure to create on-chain, programmable cross-border payments. The inaugural transaction was completed by investment brokerage firm Phillip Securities Thailand, a subsidiary of PhillipCapital and a customer of Siam Commercial Bank. PhillipCapital transferred dollar-denominated funds from one of its London-based subsidiaries to a beneficiary account with the bank in Thailand over a U.S. holiday weekend.

"Our enhanced 24/7 USD Clearing solution integrated with Citi Token Services … furthers our 'network of networks' approach as we build capabilities that are interoperable so that they are multi-bank, multi-market and multi-network," Mridula Iyer, Citi's Asia South head of services, said in a statement.

The tie up is a boost for Citi's quest to attract banks to its crypto business, and signals a broader shift that's happening within digital assets where banks are looking past individual tokenized deposit platforms and toward interoperability as pressure mounts from crypto companies. As the burgeoning technology continues to gain traction, interoperability between banks has become one of the main roadblocks to broader adoption.

"What Citi has highlighted here is the combination of a live financial institution customer, tokenised deposit infrastructure, and cross-border payment execution within its global clearing network," Michael Levens, vice president, financial services payments lead at Capgemini, told American Banker. "This shifts the conversation beyond tokenization as a technology initiative, highlighting how these capabilities are being applied to solve real-world liquidity, treasury, and cross-border payment challenges."

Banks such as Citi, JPMorganChase with its Kinexys blockchain and HSBC with its tokenized deposit service have spent the last few years proving the viability of tokenized deposits and 24/7 liquidity within their own ecosystems, but that approach is expanding.

"Developments like this demonstrate that the industry is beginning to look past individual tokenized deposit platforms and toward interoperability between networks," Levens said, citing Swift's blockchain-based ledger, which has the support of 17 international banks. The Clearing House also has a multibank tokenized deposit initiative.

It also signals a growing maturity and comfortability with digital assets among some of the world's largest banks.

"While widespread adoption still lies ahead, attention is increasingly focused on interoperability, liquidity management, operating model transformation, and the development of viable commercial models," Levens said.