Monument Bank Brings Tokenized Deposits to Retail Customers
Monument Bank, a UK-based challenger bank, is set to become the first regulated bank in the country to offer tokenized deposits to retail customers. The bank plans to tokenize up to £250 million ($330 million) in customer deposits on the Midnight blockchain.
The tokenized deposits will maintain a 1:1 peg with traditional savings balances and are fully backed and redeemable in pounds sterling. Monument's target demographic is mass-affluent clients, people with investable assets between £50,000 and £5 million.
The bank has currently managed roughly £7 billion in deposits across more than 100,000 customers, and the £250 million earmarked for tokenization represents about 3.6% of that total. The project's rollout was initially set for earlier this year but has been delayed to November due to regulatory issues.
The bank engaged an FCA-approved custodian based in Canada to resolve the issue, which highlights the challenges of implementing advanced privacy technologies in a regulated environment. Monument founder Mintoo Bhandari emphasized that the solution is to embed tokenized deposits into a consumer banking app, making it accessible to everyday customers without requiring them to understand blockchain mechanics.