In a survey commissioned by DBS, 88% of respondents representing large companies said they use or have tested tokenized money, with stablecoins ranking first among the tools in use or planned for adoption.
The research, reported by CoinDesk, was conducted by EY on behalf of Singapore-based DBS. The study included 422 business and finance leaders from 11 markets, including the United States, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and covered organizations with annual revenue of more than $500 million.
In this study, tokenized money includes bank deposits and money market funds represented on a blockchain, alongside stablecoins. The 88% figure represents the combined share of respondents who said they use or have tested it.
Stablecoins Outpace Deposits and Funds
Sixty-three percent of respondents listed stablecoins among the tools they use or plan to adopt. Tokenized deposits followed at 53%, while tokenized money market funds came next at 52%.
Asked about the stage of adoption, 24% of respondents said they use the technology at scale, while 43% said they use it on a limited basis in selected markets. This brought the share reporting live use to 67%. Another 21% were at the pilot or proof-of-concept stage, while the remaining 12% said they were researching the technology or not using it.
Companies Want Faster Payments
Seventy-one percent of respondents said they had seen improvements in cross-border payments or expected them within two years. The share giving the same response for cash and liquidity management was 65%. These figures combine realized benefits with expectations for the future.
Regulatory uncertainty, security risks, and integration with existing systems were among the barriers to wider adoption. About two-thirds of respondents wanted services from banks that provide one-stop access to different networks, while 63% said they were looking for support with pilots and integration.
Banks Have Live Use Cases
DBS, which commissioned the research, also offers services in this area. With DBS Token Services, launched in 2024, the bank connects its own permissioned blockchain to payment systems to support round-the-clock payments and transactions subject to predetermined conditions.
At its investor day in May, Citi said hundreds of its clients were conducting transactions worth nearly $1 billion a day through Citi Token Services for liquidity and working capital management.
In September, the two banks also completed a weekend dollar payment between Singapore and New York using tokenized deposits over Swift Digital Ledger. According to DBS, the transaction was completed within minutes outside banking hours.
Not investment advice.