On 3 July 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“) published a Report on the Use of Tokenised Bank Liabilities for Transaction Banking (“Report“). The Report shows how tokenised bank liabilities, underpinned by shared ledger infrastructures, can enable 24/7 real-time settlement across borders and help optimise liquidity management in transaction banking.
The Report highlights two main challenges identified by workstream participants:
- The implementation of tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledger solutions in cross-border payments and foreign exchange settlements; and
- The absence of a widely accepted industry framework to facilitate the adoption of tokenised bank liabilities.
Additionally, the Report discusses:
- Project Guardian use cases, which have been designed to address these challenges. These use cases demonstrate solutions that allow tokenised deposits in various currencies, issued by different deposit takers, to be exchanged. Although these use cases are still in the experimental phase, they show that scalable and interoperable solutions can be developed in anticipation of the growth of the tokenised assets market.
- Various design, operational, and risk considerations in using tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledger in cross-border payments.
The Report does not take any positions on the legal classification or regulatory treatment of tokenised bank liabilities, as these may vary by jurisdiction.