A tokenized deposit is a commercial bank deposit liability recorded on a tokenized or programmable ledger. The depositor's claim remains a claim on the issuing commercial bank.
Tokenized deposits extend commercial bank money onto programmable infrastructure. In the BIS model, transfers are recorded at the bank level and interbank obligations settle in central bank money, preserving the institutional structure of the two-tier monetary system. Specific implementations can differ in ledger design, access, and settlement architecture, so a product described as a tokenized deposit should be assessed against its legal and accounting treatment as a bank deposit.
A tokenized deposit remains a commercial bank liability. Fiat-backed stablecoins generally use a separate token, reserve portfolio, and redemption arrangement outside the conventional deposit structure.
Tokenized deposits are important because they seek to add programmability and token-based infrastructure while retaining the institutional framework of commercial bank money.
A bank may issue a programmable representation of a customer's deposit balance that can be transferred on a permissioned ledger while remaining a liability of that bank.