Standard Chartered launches tokenised deposits in Hong Kong

Standard Chartered has put tokenised bank deposits into live use for corporate clients in Hong Kong. The launch was announced on 2 November 2026. It is a bank-led move onto blockchain rails, and it sits next to the asset classes we count rather than inside them.

What did Standard Chartered launch in Hong Kong?

Standard Chartered announced the launch of its Tokenised Deposits solution in Hong Kong, the first market in the Group to offer it to corporate clients. The service is built on the bank's proprietary blockchain infrastructure. It lets eligible clients use commercial bank deposits within digital treasury and investment workflows, including intragroup liquidity management.

The intended users are corporate treasurers, banks, investment platforms and digital asset businesses.

How does EnsembleTX settle the deposits?

EnsembleTX is the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's infrastructure for tokenised transactions. Tokenised deposits can be transferred in real time across participating banks. Inter-bank settlement is in central bank money, including wholesale central bank digital currency, on a 24/7 basis.

The HKMA widened the system on the same day. CoinDesk reports that the project "now includes 12 banks and 20 other participating firms". That follows a pilot started in November 2025.

China AMC, Finloop and PantherTrade have executed live tokenised deposit transactions and settled tokenised money market funds through EnsembleTX.

How is a tokenised deposit different from a stablecoin?

A tokenized deposit remains money held at a bank. A stablecoin is a separate digital token. The bank's deposit liability stays on the bank's books. The token is a way to move it.

That difference decides what we can count. The Migration by Concrete tracks assets that sit at public blockchain addresses. One report notes that corporate clients can use regulated bank deposits in digital workflows without replacing them with stablecoins.

Does The Migration count these deposits?

No. Our counts cover three categories on public blockchains. Tokenised bank deposits are not one of them. Only addresses the issuer publishes or confirms in writing are counted, and counts are updated every 6 hours. See how we count.

The table shows what our counts hold as of November 2, 2026.

For stablecoin detail, see our article on cash-backed stablecoins on chain. For funds, see tokenized Treasuries, fund by fund.

Where do banks already appear in our counts?

Banks and their asset-management arms show up as fund issuers. As of November 2, 2026, J.P. Morgan Asset Management (Kinexys) issues two funds in our Treasury count. JLTXX holds $795.2 million, with $740.8 million on Solana and $54.4 million on Ethereum. MONY holds $103.2 million.

Those are fund shares on public chains. Standard Chartered's product is a different instrument: a deposit moved through bank infrastructure. The two can meet, though. The HKMA's participants have already settled tokenised money market funds alongside tokenised deposits.

How much is being used?

The announcement does not say. Standard Chartered did not disclose transaction volumes or the number of institutions eligible to use the service at launch. Three named firms show the system works. They do not show how much it is used.

What to watch

• Whether Standard Chartered or the HKMA publish volumes for tokenised deposits in Hong Kong.
• Whether the 12 banks on EnsembleTX each launch their own tokenised deposit services.
• Whether tokenised money market funds settle against tokenised deposits at scale. We would then count the fund side in our Treasury count.