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On-Chain Institutional Watch · No. 1625 September 202612 min read

Four bank money networks moved in four days, and Quant sits in two of them

Two of the four networks carry live transactions, one has an opening date, and Canada's six largest banks have not picked a builder.

On-Chain Institutional Watch, edition 16

The Eurosystem switched on Pontes on 21 September 2026, and 13 institutions, Deutsche Bank, Santander and Societe Generale among them, joined at launch to settle tokenized assets in central bank money. The same day the ECB said it will invest part of its own funds in tokenised euro public-sector securities settled there. Canada's six largest banks said on 22 September they will jointly explore a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit network. On 24 September seven UK banks completed the first live customer transactions in tokenised sterling on GBTD, and The Clearing House picked Quant to run the orchestration layer of its US network, due to open in the first half of 2027.

The week in three facts:

  • Quant developed the UK platform that went live this week and now holds the orchestration role in the US network, while Canada's six banks have named no technology provider, blockchain or launch date.
  • Pontes names 13 launch institutions and GBTD names seven banks. The Clearing House named 17 founding institutions in June, and its September release names no confirmed participants.
  • SoFi went live on 22 September settling a card program expected to process more than $25 billion in annualized volume in SoFiUSD, its own stablecoin, on Mastercard.

The week in one paragraph. Between 21 and 24 September 2026, bank money moved onto shared ledgers in the eurozone, Canada, the UK and the US, each time through a utility or consortium rather than a single bank's token. Two networks carry live transactions, one has a date and one has none. Institutional Watch is Meridial's weekly record of that entrance. Meridial is the go-to-market system for digital assets, an agentic operating system for companies capturing the institutional wave: agents map the market, then run the content and outreach to reach it at scale, and drive pipeline your team can close.

The pattern: bank money went on-chain through shared utilities in four jurisdictions

In four days, shared bank utilities moved money onto ledgers in four jurisdictions. Pontes went live on 21 September with 13 institutions and four DLT operators. Six Canadian banks announced their joint effort on 22 September. GBTD ran its first live customer transactions and The Clearing House chose its vendor, both on 24 September.

None of the four is a bank issuing its own coin: three move tokenized deposits between banks, and Pontes settles in central bank money. That places the week inside the market's live contest between bank money and stablecoins, in which banks put deposits on ledgers to keep the deposit funding that stablecoins would otherwise draw away. The claim that banks are on-chain has long run ahead of live volume. Two of the four networks now carry real transactions, while The Clearing House still targets the first half of 2027 and Canada has set no date.

One vendor sits in two of the networks. Quant developed the GBTD platform and will provide the interoperability, orchestration and transaction-management layer for The Clearing House. IBM added a third route on 24 September, a beta ISO 20022 messaging adapter connecting its Digital Asset Haven to Swift's shared ledger. With the network decision made in three of the four markets, the open question is which vendors connect each participating bank.

Pontes went live with 13 institutions, and the ECB said it will be a buyer

The Eurosystem launched Pontes on 21 September 2026, linking market DLT platforms to TARGET Services so wholesale tokenized asset transactions settle in central bank money. Thirteen institutions joined at launch, twelve from Germany, France and Spain plus the European Investment Bank, alongside four DLT operators. Full implementation is expected by 2028.

The launch list reads ABANCA, BayernLB, Caisse des Depots et Consignations, Cecabank, Deutsche Bank, Deka Bank, DZ Bank, the European Investment Bank, KfW, Memo Bank, NRW.BANK, Santander and Societe Generale. The Deutsche Bundesbank also onboarded as a market participant. The four connected DLT operators are Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream and SWIAT, and enhanced features and extended operating hours roll out gradually.

In a second release the same day, the ECB said it has started preparatory work to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenised securities settled through Pontes. Initial investments will focus on euro-denominated securities from euro area central governments, regional governments, agencies and European supranational institutions. The own funds portfolio sits outside monetary policy, and the stated aim is practical experience as an investor in DLT markets. The Executive Board will set operational details and timing once the preparatory work is done. No size is given, and the ECB has not bought a tokenised security yet.

Pontes gave euro tokenized issuance a central bank money cash leg, and the own-funds decision speaks to the demand side, since an issuer's first question on a digital bond is who buys it. The EIB and KfW, both launch participants, sit inside the ECB's stated scope as issuers. For a tokenization platform selling into the euro area, being one of the four connected operators now decides whether it can offer that cash leg.

Seven UK banks settled two remortgages in tokenised sterling on GBTD

Banks in the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative, convened by UK Finance, completed the first live customer transactions in tokenised sterling deposits, reported on 24 September 2026. The seven participants are Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander, on a platform developed by Quant.

The first three transactions were two remortgage completions, in which funds were locked and then released automatically at completion, and one consumer marketplace transaction. UK Finance's press release is dated 24 September. Jana Mackintosh of UK Finance, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby KC MP and UK Digital Markets Champion Chris Woolard are quoted.

UK Finance says further pilots are expected to have banks issue digital debt instruments with coupons paid in tokenised deposits, testing delivery-versus-payment-versus-reserves (DvPvR). It has not dated them. The UK started at the retail end with mortgage completions, and the next phase moves it toward securities. That phase needs registrars, custodians and settlement agents the seven banks do not run on this platform today. The FCA's crypto authorisation gateway opens on 30 September 2026, six days after the reported transactions.

The Clearing House picked Quant for a US network that opens in H1 2027

The Clearing House named Quant on 24 September 2026 as the provider of the interoperability, orchestration and transaction-management layer for its On-Chain Money Initiative. It is a network where financial institutions of all sizes will clear and settle tokenized deposit transactions, with connectivity to the existing RTP and CHIPS networks. The network is expected to open to participating institutions in the first half of 2027.

The release quotes Sal Karakaplan, The Clearing House's Chief Strategy Officer, and Gilbert Verdian, Quant's founder and CEO. It names no participating bank, and participation details are still to follow. The Clearing House announced the initiative on 5 June 2026 with 17 founding institutions, including Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo, and named no vendor or launch date then. The September release adds both.

The same large US banks now sit on two tracks aimed at the same half-year. A separate 21-institution consortium that includes Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo said on 1 September it will establish a USD stablecoin company in the second half of 2026 and go to market in H1 2027. Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo are founding institutions of both efforts, and Wells Fargo said on 4 August it will also launch its own tokenized deposits for select corporate and commercial clients this fall. With the hub vendor chosen, the integration work moves to each participating bank: core banking and ledger integration, wallet and key management, sanctions screening and transaction monitoring, and treasury tooling.

Canada's six largest banks moved together, and named no vendor

BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, RBC, Scotiabank and TD announced on 22 September 2026 that they are jointly exploring Canadian-dollar digital money, starting with tokenized deposits. Phase one aims to move tokenized deposits efficiently across Canadian financial institutions. The release names no technology provider, blockchain or launch date.

The announcement came 12 days after OSFI's 10 September statement on tokenized and other digitally represented deposits, which confirmed they are not legally distinct from traditional deposits and pointed banks to Guidelines B-13 and B-10. RBC and TD took part in the Project Samara tokenized bond experiment with the Bank of Canada and EDC in March 2026. The six banks expect other deposit-taking institutions to join at the appropriate time, and the longer-term aim is to link with other digital asset initiatives.

Canada is the only one of the four networks that moved this week without a vendor, and the six banks have committed to no selection date. Its platform and interoperability role is the one network-level contest the week left open.

SoFi went live on its own stablecoin as the Fed published its rulebook

SoFi and Mastercard announced on 22 September 2026 that stablecoin settlement is live across SoFi Bank, N.A.'s debit and credit card program, using SoFiUSD. The release says the program is expected to process more than $25 billion in annualized volume, and SoFi describes SoFiUSD as the first stablecoin issued by a nationally chartered bank.

The Block reports SoFiUSD is available on Ethereum and Solana. The launch came six months after the partnership was announced in March 2026. SoFi says it is in active discussions with large US merchants. It is the single-bank counterpoint to the week's shared networks, and it went live in September 2026 while the 21-institution consortium targets H1 2027.

Two days later, on 24 September, the Federal Reserve Board proposed two GENIUS Act rules for the payment stablecoin issuers it supervises. The first requires full backing with permissible reserve assets such as short-term Treasury bills and sets capital and safekeeping standards. The second sets an application process with appeals, hearings and final determinations. Comments run for 60 days after Federal Register publication. The Fed follows the OCC, whose proposal appeared in the Federal Register on 2 March, and the FDIC, which approved its proposal on 7 April. Governor Michael Barr supported the proposal but said the "significant or systemic" standard for AML supervisory and enforcement action may have unknown effects on the Board's oversight. The GENIUS effective date falls no later than 18 January 2027.

A transfer agent joined the tokenized stock fight a week after the SEC exemption

Bullish, Equiniti, Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth formed the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition on 24 September 2026. It will write technical standards, settlement procedures, custody approaches and operating frameworks for tokenized securities linked directly to an issuer's official shareholder register, so token holders keep voting rights, dividends and corporate actions. Equiniti is a transfer agent, and Bullish agreed in May 2026 to acquire it in a $4.2 billion transaction expected to close in January 2027.

DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan said "much of what's marketed today as 'tokenized equity' isn't equity at all." CoinDesk, which covered the launch, is owned by Bullish.

Two more moves landed the same week, both after the SEC's 17 September Innovation Exemption for trading tokenized NMS stock. NYSE Group and Blockchain.com signed a non-binding MOU, dated 23 September in the PR Newswire release, under which Blockchain.com would distribute tokenized US stocks and ETFs from NYSE's planned digital trading platform to its 44 million confirmed accounts, subject to regulatory approvals. MoonPay agreed on 23 September to acquire North Capital, whose affiliates hold broker-dealer, transfer agent and investment adviser registrations, in an all-stock deal worth more than $60 million, according to CoinDesk. Ledger Insights reports North Capital's PPEX ATS has supported over $8.7 billion in transaction volume; CoinDesk puts volume across North Capital at about $9 billion.

Two firms from the crypto side have now agreed to buy a transfer agent, and neither deal has closed.

What this means for the firms selling into these institutions

Custody, key management and wallet providers. Your moves are The Clearing House and Quant on 24 September and Pontes on 21 September. Participating US banks integrate against the H1 2027 opening, and the confirmed participant list is still to come.

Compliance and transaction monitoring vendors. Your moves are The Clearing House on 24 September and the Fed proposal the same day. Each participating bank needs screening and monitoring on tokenized deposit flows, and Board-supervised issuers have a 60-day comment window ahead of a GENIUS effective date no later than 18 January 2027.

Tokenization platforms and interoperability vendors. Your move is the Canadian Big Six on 22 September. It is the one network in the four with no technology provider named, and no selection date has been set.

Custodians, registrars and issuing agents for tokenized debt. Your moves are the ECB own-funds decision on 21 September and GBTD's next pilots. Pontes reaches full implementation by 2028, and UK Finance has not dated the DvPvR pilots.

Transfer agents and securities counsel. Your move is the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition on 24 September. The coalition gave no date for its standards, and the Bullish acquisition of Equiniti is expected to close in January 2027.

What changes now

For every vendor other than Quant, this week's open work sits at the participating banks. Pontes and GBTD already name their institutions, The Clearing House named its 17 founders in June, and its confirmed participant list follows once participation details are published.

The dates worth holding are 30 September, when the FCA gateway opens; 18 January 2027, the latest GENIUS effective date; the first half of 2027, when The Clearing House network opens; and 2028, when Pontes reaches full implementation. Subscribe to get next week's pattern.

Also in motion this week

ARK Invest put its venture fund on Ethereum with Securitize. ARK and Securitize announced on 24 September the tokenization of the ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), an interval fund with about $1.3 billion in net assets whose named holdings include OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks. It is ARK's first fund on-chain. The minimum is $500, funded in USDC, according to Crypto Briefing.

KB Securities picked Securitize and OP Mainnet for a Korean tokenized MMF. KB Securities signed an MOU with Securitize and the Optimism Foundation on 21 September, reported on 23 September, for a tokenized money market fund and funds based on KB Asset Management strategies. The first fund is planned on OP Mainnet, and the move lands ahead of the FSC's amended securities rules, which take effect on 4 February 2027.

Raiffeisen Bank International put crypto for about 18 million customers on one Bitpanda framework. RBI and Bitpanda agreed on 23 September a framework under which RBI's Central and Eastern European network banks can offer digital assets through Bitpanda Enterprise. Each subsidiary sets its own offer and timing.

CFTC staff extended their crypto FAQs to tokenized customer-fund investments. On 24 September three CFTC staff divisions updated the FAQs first released on 20 March to cover investing customer funds in tokenized forms of permitted investments and using blockchain technology for recordkeeping. Chairman Michael Selig told the U.S. Treasury Market Conference at the New York Fed on 22 September that markets must prepare for mass tokenization, The Block reported.

About Meridial

Meridial is the go-to-market system for digital assets. The institutional wave is coming on-chain and most crypto teams were built to build, not to sell, so we close that gap for the firms selling into these institutions: agents map your market and detect the timing, content earns the inbound and makes you an authority across your market, and outreach reaches the right people at the right time to generate pipeline for your team. The close stays yours.

The trackers behind this edition are public. Institutional Watch names the week's entrants. The Meridial Intelligence Hub keeps the standing count: the Global Crypto Licence Map across ten regimes, the US Crypto Banking Map of the charter pipeline, the Institutional Holdings Tracker built from 13F filings, and the Stablecoin Register. The registers refresh on a weekly cycle and the holdings quarterly, and every table is free to read without an email: https://meridial.io/intelligence

Sources

The intelligence layer, running in public

Every entrant named here, with a date and a next purchase attached.

Institutional Watch names the week's entrants. The Meridial Intelligence Hub keeps the standing count: the Global Crypto Licence Map, the US Crypto Banking Map, the Institutional Holdings Tracker and the Stablecoin Register, all free to read without an email. If you sell custody, compliance, attestation or tokenization into these firms, Meridial turns that record into pipeline your team closes.

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