Tokenized Deposit Moves Between HSBC and Standard Chartered, but It Is Only a Test

HSBC and Standard Chartered have carried out the first live tokenized deposit transaction on SWIFT‘s blockchain-based ledger, an early test of whether commercial bank money can move between institutions on shared infrastructure. The transfer took place six weeks after the network opened to an initial group of 17 banks.

The two banks disclosed the transaction on Aug. 19. Payment messages passed between HSBC’s Tokenized Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s own tokenized deposit infrastructure, with the resulting obligations recorded on both banks’ systems.

SWIFT’s ledger functioned as an orchestration layer, matching and netting obligations between the two institutions before final settlement was completed through existing payment rails.

“HSBC’s interoperability transaction with Standard Chartered via SWIFT is a landmark moment for the promise of tokenised deposits,” said Lewis Sun, head of digital currencies at HSBC.

Mark Willis, head of emerging payments, transaction services and digital assets at Standard Chartered, said tokenized deposits represent “a key pillar of Standard Chartered’s digital assets strategy, which aims to build end-to-end solutions.”

Ledger Built on Hyperledger Besu

SWIFT says the minimum viable product rests on open-source foundations, using an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible architecture based on Hyperledger Besu, and is designed to interoperate with the wider digital asset ecosystem.

The cooperative operates the ledger itself, orchestrating transaction workflows, validating funding commitments and coordinating interbank processes. Consensys built the conceptual prototype when SWIFT announced the project in September 2025.

Seventeen banks across six continents are preparing to pilot live transactions, including ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, MUFG, UBS and Wells Fargo. SWIFT has experimented previously with moving tokenized value across public and private blockchains.

HSBC has placed bank money on a ledger before, joining a S$400 million digital bond issuance with SGX and Temasek that reduced primary settlement from five days to two.

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“With our new ledger capability, we’re extending the trust and stability of established finance into the frontiers of digital money,” said Thierry Chilosi, chief business officer at SWIFT.

US Rival Network Targets 2027 Launch

American lenders are constructing a competing rail. The Clearing House is developing a tokenized deposit network called The Bridge alongside JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, targeted at the first half of 2027 and open to all US banks. Bank of America’s Mark Monaco has said clients are not yet “beating down the door” for tokenized deposits.

SWIFT moves the equivalent of global GDP every two to three days across more than 200 markets. The cooperative says 75% of payments on its network reach beneficiary banks within 10 minutes.