Key Highlights
- Monument Bank targets £250 million in tokenized retail deposits in the first rollout phase
- Deposits will remain fully backed in GBP and protected under UK regulatory safeguards
- Built on Midnight, the system promises privacy-preserving, compliant on-chain banking
Monument Bank said it plans to tokenize up to 250 million pounds ($335 million) of retail customer deposits on the Midnight network, in what it described as the first such move by a U.K.-regulated bank on a public blockchain.
The London-based challenger bank said the deposits will remain interest-bearing, fully backed, and redeemable one-for-one in pounds sterling, while continuing to be covered under the U.K.’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Retail deposits, public chain, full protection
The structure puts three elements together that rarely align: retail customers, regulated bank deposits, and public blockchain infrastructure.
Unlike earlier tokenization experiments that focused on institutional clients or permissioned systems, Monument is pushing this model toward mass-affluent retail users, starting with customers holding between £50,000 and £5 million in investable assets.
The bank said it currently serves over 100,000 customers and holds around £7 billion in deposits, giving the rollout a meaningful base beyond a pilot test.
Phase one mirrors savings, next comes tokenized investments
In the first phase, Monument will mirror customer savings balances on Midnight’s blockchain, effectively turning deposits into tokenized representations without changing their underlying structure.
The roadmap goes further:
- Phase 2: Tokenized investment products (private markets, commodities)
- Phase 3: Lending against tokenized holdings داخل the Monument app
This positions the initiative as a full-stack tokenized banking model, not just a deposit experiment.
Midnight’s privacy model targets compliance gap
The system runs on Midnight, a privacy-focused blockchain developed by Shielded Technologies, a company linked to Cardano creator Input Output.
Monument said transaction data will remain visible only to the bank and its customers, addressing one of the biggest barriers for banks using public chains — balancing transparency with regulatory confidentiality requirements.
Beyond Monument: Banking-as-a-service play emerges
The announcement also signals a broader strategy beyond Monument’s own balance sheet.
Affiliate Monument Technology plans to extend the same tokenized deposit infrastructure through its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, potentially allowing other financial institutions to adopt the model.
This shifts the story from a single-bank rollout to a possible industry template for tokenized deposits.
Why this matters
Most tokenization efforts have stayed within closed systems or institutional pilots.
Monument’s approach tests whether:
- Retail deposits can move on-chain
- Without losing regulatory protection
- While remaining interest-bearing and fully redeemable
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