Banks Adopt Tokenized Deposits for Payments

ACI Worldwide Inc. announced that banks will be able to process payments via tokenized deposits through its payments hub, which now supports Swift ledger transactions. This move allows banks to process payments via tokenized deposits alongside traditional payment methods without changing their operations, workflows, or technology.

Last year, Swift, the global payments network, launched a blockchain-based ledger system, facilitating real-time cross-border transactions with regulated digital assets. ACI introduced its payments platform last year, offering a unified platform for card processing, account-to-account payments, and fraud prevention.

ACI’s latest move is part of a larger trend of stablecoins and digital-money trends drawing attention to the payments potential offered by tokenized deposits. Craig Ramsey, a senior vice president at ACI, notes that “digital assets should extend a bank’s payment capabilities, not force it to build a second payment operation.”

The platform allows banks to manage payments through Swift’s blockchain ledger alongside other payment methods within a single operational framework. This versatility will grow in importance as trends such as digital assets become more pronounced.

Aaron McPherson, principal at AFM Consulting, notes that adding support for tokenized-deposit transfers is necessary for the technology to be able to scale. Swift’s blockchain ledger, launched in 2025, is now hosting pilots for 17 banks on six continents.

The ultimate object is to ease the way for banks to slide Swift ledger transactions into the same platforms they use for payments processing.

SoFi Technologies Inc. and Mastercard have announced that SoFi Bank is the first national bank to implement stablecoin settlement for its credit and debit card transactions on Mastercard’s global network. SoFi Bank says it is committing the whole of its $25-billion card program to settlement via SoFiUSD.

Anthony Noto, SoFi’s CEO, says that “businesses have faster access to their money via the speed of blockchain, with the safeguards of a bank.”