Big Banks Team Up on Canadian Dollar-Based Digital Money

Canada's big banks are teaming up to develop Canadian dollar-based digital money through tokenized deposits. This initiative aims to deliver faster, more efficient, and programmable payments to customers while maintaining safety, stability, and regulatory oversight.

The six participating banks, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank, Royal Bank, Scotiabank, and TD Bank, plan to share a single blockchain for tokenized deposits. This will enable instant transactions across wallets with tokens, according to Claire Célérier, Canada Research Chair in household finance at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

The banks have clarified that the tokens would be issued by commercial banks and treated similarly to traditional bank deposits from a legal perspective. The first phase of this project focuses on moving tokenized deposits between Canadian financial institutions.