How Us Banks Are Quietly Preparing For An Onchain Future 2025
Behind the scenes, US banks are rebuilding core financial infrastructure so cash, custody and funds can move onchain under regulatory oversight.
US banks are prioritizing tokenized versions of familiar products, including deposits, funds and custody, rather than launching new crypto-native assets.
Most onchain bank activity is taking place in wholesale payments, settlement and infrastructure, largely out of public view.
Regulators are increasingly allowing crypto-related banking activities, but only within tightly supervised and risk-managed frameworks.
Public blockchains such as Ethereum are being tested by major banks, but exclusively through controlled and compliant product structures.
US banks are not racing to issue speculative crypto products. Instead, they are methodically rebuilding core financial plumbing, including payments, deposits, custody and fund administration, so these services can operate on distributed ledgers. The work is incremental, technical and often invisible to retail customers, but it is already reshaping how large institutions think about money movement and settlement.
Rather than embracing unregulated crypto assets, banks are focusing on tokenization, the process of representing traditional financial claims, such as deposits or fund shares, as digital tokens recorded on a ledger. These tokens are designed to move with embedded rules, automated settlement, real-time reconciliation and reduced counterparty risk while remaining within existing regulatory frameworks.
One of the clearest signals of this shift is the rise of tokenized deposits, sometimes described as “deposit tokens.” These are not stablecoins issued by nonbanks. Instead, they are digital representations of commercial bank deposits that are issued and redeemed by regulated banks.
JPMorgan has been among the earliest movers. Its JPM Coin system, launched for institutional clients, is positioned as a deposit token that enables real-time, 24/7 transfers on blockchain-based rails. According to JPMorgan, the system is used for peer-to-peer payments and settlement between approved clients.
In 2024, JPMorgan rebranded its broader blockchain unit as Kinexys, framing it as a platform for payments, tokenized assets and programmable liquidity rather than as a standalone “crypto” initiative.
Source: CoinTelegraph
