Why Wall Street giants build tokenization money for institutions, not regular consumers
Reported by CoinDesk · AI-assisted summary by ChikoCorp AI News Desk
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Summary
JPMorgan and Citi use blockchain technology to process trillions in payments, but their tokenized services target institutional clients and permissioned networks, not retail consumers. Monument Bank aims to tokenize up to £250 million of retail interest-bearing deposits on the Midnight blockchain, using zero-knowledge proofs to protect customer privacy and comply with regulations. Monument’s goal is to enable everyday banking customers access to tokenized investments and lending via a traditional banking app, without needing cryptocurrency knowledge.
Why it matters
The source highlights a key industry divide: while banks have tokenized money for institutions, retail customers largely remain excluded from these blockchain innovations. Monument Bank’s initiative could represent a shift toward providing tokenization benefits—such as interest-bearing deposits and access to tokenized products—to consumers in a regulated, privacy-conscious way. The source implies this could modernize banking infrastructure and product offerings beyond institutional use.
Key context
JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform moves over $3 trillion, and Citi Token Services handles billions in cross-border payments daily, illustrating large-scale institutional blockchain use. Most bank token projects are internal and unrelated to consumer retail banking. Technical challenges include legacy banking infrastructure and the difficulty of transferring funds across private blockchains without data leakage. Monument and Midnight use zero-knowledge proofs to balance privacy and regulatory compliance.
Key numbers and entities
JPMorgan, Citi, Monument Bank (with approximately $2.4 billion in assets), Midnight blockchain, Lynq Network, Kinexys platform, and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme are mentioned. Monument plans to tokenize up to £250 million ($335 million) of retail deposits.
What remains unclear
The source does not specify timelines for Monument’s retail tokenization launch or detailed consumer use cases beyond general aspirations. It is also unclear how widespread adoption will be, how other banks might participate, or the exact regulatory approvals required. The operational details of how tokenized deposits will integrate with existing banking systems remain unspecified.