JPMorgan, Citi, BofA, and Wells Fargo Build Shared Tokenized Deposit Network

Four of Americas biggest banks just decided the best way to fight stablecoins is to build their own version of one.

JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are developing a shared tokenized-deposit network through The Clearing House, targeting a launch in the first half of 2027. The network is designed around 24/7 settlement and programmable treasury tools, explicitly framed by the banks as a defensive move to keep customer deposits from migrating toward stablecoins.

Tokenized deposits differ from stablecoins in a meaningful structural way: they represent a direct claim on a bank deposit rather than a reserve-backed token issued outside the traditional banking system, meaning they carry FDIC-style deposit protections that most stablecoins simply dont offer in the same form.

The defensive framing is telling on its own. Stablecoin market capitalization has grown by roughly 30% over the past year to more than $300 billion, and every dollar that moves from a bank deposit into a stablecoin is a dollar banks can no longer lend against, a dynamic thats clearly become urgent enough to drive four major competitors into a joint infrastructure project together.

Building this kind of network jointly through The Clearing House rather than separately reflects a practical reality: shared settlement infrastructure needs broad participation to be useful, since a tokenized deposit that only moves between a single banks own customers offers little advantage over existing internal transfer systems.

Want to understand exactly how a tokenized deposit differs from a stablecoin? Learn more in the Bitcoin Academy.