Bank of Montreal Teams With CME Group, Google Cloud on Tokenized Cash Platform

By Robb M. Stewart

Bank of Montreal plans to launch tokenized cash capabilities that will allow institutional clients to move funds securely at all times.

The Canadian bank will offer 24/7 tokenized cash services using derivatives marketplace CME Group's network on Google Cloud Universal Ledger. The result aims to be a bank-anchored framework that will enable clients to convert dollars into a tokenized instrument for use with margined products at CME.

Bank of Montreal said it will be the first bank to offer CME's tokenized cash solution on Google Cloud Universal Ledger.

Tokenized cash represents currency or bank deposits as digital tokens on a distributed ledger or blockchain, promising instant, programmable settlements.

Momentum around tokenized money is building.

Deloitte in a report this month said stablecoins and tokenized deposits are poised to reshape global finance, and that Canadian banks must modernize infrastructure, define their roles and build strategies to navigate evolving regulatory changes and new market demands. Stablecoins alone currently have a market capitalization exceeding 400 billion Canadian dollars (US$291.5 billion) as of February, growing by roughly a multiple of 10 since the end of 2020, Deloitte said.

Bank of Montreal, which ranks as one of the largest banks in North America by assets, said it is expanding use cases for accessing tokenized cash. CME's tokenized cash solution is designed to support high-value, real-time settlement needs for institutional participants, it added.

The bank said it plans to offer an institutional settlement instrument to regulated financial-services firms operating in capital markets and the commercial-banking space in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval. The service will be available to mutual clients of the bank and CME.

The instrument will allow Bank of Montreal to offer traditional commercial-bank funds in digital form, made available to a broader set of BMO clients for business-to-business payments, treasury movements, and programmable cash applications.

Bank clients will be able to convert U.S. dollars into tokenized deposits and tokenized cash 24/7, which Bank of Montreal said will allow it to meet market needs such as extended trading hours, more continuous operations and moving collateral without traditional cutoff constraints.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2026 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)