Standard Chartered Launches Hong Kong Tokenized Deposits

Standard Chartered has launched a tokenized-deposit service for eligible corporate clients in Hong Kong, enabling transfers between participating banks at any time through blockchain infrastructure connected to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s EnsembleTX platform. The bank announced the service on November 2, describing Hong Kong as the first market in its global network to offer the product to corporate clients. It combines tokenized representations of commercial bank deposits with Standard Chartered’s blockchain infrastructure. The deposits remain commercial bank money, rather than stablecoins, while eligible clients can use them in approved digital workflows. Standard Chartered said transfers between participating banks can take place around the clock, with interbank settlement using central bank money, including wholesale central bank digital currency. The arrangement is designed to support treasury management, liquidity transfers and investment transactions. The launch announcement did not provide transaction volumes or measured settlement-time results for the new service. The bank said China AMC, Finloop and PantherTrade had completed live transactions involving...