Six US Banks Build Tokenized Deposit Model via Fireblocks

Six chartered US banks are developing a tokenized deposit model in partnership with Fireblocks, signaling a coordinated move by traditional financial institutions toward blockchain-based banking infrastructure. Tokenized deposits represent a bank's traditional deposit liabilities as digital tokens on a blockchain. Unlike stablecoins issued by non-bank entities, tokenized deposits remain a direct claim on a licensed, regulated bank and sit within existing deposit insurance frameworks. For institutional users, this means the programmability and settlement speed of blockchain with the counterparty safety of a chartered institution. Fireblocks provides the underlying custody, transfer, and settlement infrastructure for digital assets to hundreds of financial institutions globally, making it a natural partner for banks entering this space without building blockchain infrastructure from scratch. No further details on the participating banks, timeline, or technical specifications have been released. The announcement follows a broader pattern of US banks accelerating digital asset infrastructure projects following regulatory clarity signaled by the OCC and Federal Reserve in 2025 and 2026.