Written by: Sam, Techub News

Introduction

On the opening day of Hong Kong FinTech Week (November 2), two announcements were made almost simultaneously. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that the pilot phase of the Ensemble project, EnsembleTX, is now capable of providing 24/7 settlement for interbank tokenized deposit transactions using tokenized central bank currency, with the number of participating banks increasing to 12 and industry pioneers rising to 20. Standard Chartered Bank immediately announced the launch of a tokenized deposit scheme in Hong Kong, making it the first market within the Standard Chartered Group to offer this service to corporate clients.

This means that tokenized deposits opened at licensed banks in Hong Kong can now be transferred in real-time between banks, eliminating the need to wait for traditional payment systems to open for interbank fund settlement. Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong), Finloop, and PantherTrade have already completed real transactions using Standard Chartered's tokenized deposits.

Key Highlights

• The Monetary Authority announced that EnsembleTX now supports 24/7 settlement for interbank tokenized deposit transactions using tokenized central bank currency; when EnsembleTX launches in November 2025, interbank settlements must be completed via the Hong Kong dollar real-time gross settlement system (RTGS).
• The number of banks offering tokenized deposits through EnsembleTX has increased to 12: HSBC, Bank of China Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, China Construction Bank (Asia), Bank of East Asia, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), and Furuin Bank joined in 2025, while Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), Citic Bank International, ICBC (Asia), Industrial Bank Hong Kong Branch, and Nanyang Commercial Bank joined this year.
• The number of industry pioneers has increased to 20, including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Ant International, Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong), Hong Kong Stock Exchange, etc., with new additions this year including HashKey Group, JD Technology, Xunqing Settlement, and China Petroleum Finance (Hong Kong).
• Standard Chartered stated that its tokenized deposit scheme is based on its own blockchain infrastructure, enabling real-time transfers between participating banks using EnsembleTX, and allows for 24/7 cross-bank settlements using central bank currencies, including wholesale central bank digital currency; Standard Chartered is also collaborating with Fireblocks, with HashKey joining its ecosystem.
• Securities and Futures Commission Chief Executive Officer Ashley Alder stated that tokenized deposits will support 24/7 trading, including corporate treasury management and secondary market trading of tokenized funds on licensed platforms.

1. Monetary Authority: From "borrowing RTGS" to 24/7 settlement using tokenized central bank currency

Tokenized deposits are bank deposits recorded in the form of tokens on a blockchain, essentially still regulated bank deposits, but can be transferred and programmed in real time like digital assets. The issue arises when customers transfer tokenized deposits from one bank to another; a real fund settlement between the two banks still needs to be completed.

When the Monetary Authority launches EnsembleTX in November 2025, this step will be handed over to the Hong Kong dollar real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) to support real transactions involving tokenized deposits and digital assets in a controlled pilot environment, including industry pioneers utilizing tokenized deposits from participating banks for corporate treasury management and tokenized money market fund transactions. At that time, HSBC announced the completion of one of the first cross-bank transactions in EnsembleTX, where Ant International transferred HKD 3.8 million in tokenized deposits to its wallet at another local bank. Source: Monetary Authority (November 2025), HSBC

On November 2, the Monetary Authority announced a new chapter for EnsembleTX: interbank tokenized deposit transactions can now use tokenized central bank currency (CeBM) for 24/7 settlement. The Monetary Authority stated that this new feature allows participating banks and industry pioneers to settle tokenized transactions in real time with tokenized central bank currency outside traditional operating hours to meet the needs of an increasingly globalized, 24/7 digital financial market. Reports in September indicated that Hong Kong planned to launch 24/7 central bank currency settlement for tokenized deposits by the end of this year. Source: Monetary Authority, Techub News

The Monetary Authority President Yu Weiwen stated that the Ensemble project has moved from experimental and pilot phases to a new stage of promoting tokenized commercial applications in Hong Kong within just two years; as the market evolves, the trend of global banks issuing tokenized deposits is increasingly prominent, and he anticipates that the commercialization of tokenized deposits and digital assets will further accelerate.

Securities and Futures Commission Chief Executive Ashley Alder stated that introducing 24/7 interbank settlement using tokenized central bank currency is a significant step for Hong Kong towards a larger-scale tokenized market; tokenized deposits will support 24/7 trading, including corporate treasury management and secondary market trading of tokenized funds on licensed platforms, helping to promote market liquidity. Just a week earlier, the Securities and Futures Commission approved two tokenized money market funds to conduct 24/7 secondary market trading on licensed virtual asset trading platforms starting October 26. Source: Hong Kong SAR Government Press Release

2. 12 Banks and 20 Pioneers

According to the attachments released by the Monetary Authority, "tokenized deposit banks" under EnsembleTX refer to commercial banks that provide tokenized deposit products and services to Hong Kong clients and conduct interbank settlements for tokenized deposit transactions in real environments via EnsembleTX. Currently, there are 12 banks:

• Joined in 2025: Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Construction Bank (Asia), Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), Furuin Bank, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, HSBC.
• Newly added in 2026: Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), Citic Bank International, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), Industrial Bank Hong Kong Branch, Nanyang Commercial Bank.

Additionally, there are 20 other industry pioneers covering asset management, payment, technology companies, and market infrastructure:

• Joined in 2025: Ant Digital Technology, Ant International, BlackRock, Bank of China Hong Kong Asset Management, Bosera Funds (International), Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong), China Resources Longde, EVIDENT, Franklin Templeton, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, JETCO, Huaying Dongfang (Asia), Hong Kong and China Gas.
• Newly added in 2026: Xunqing Settlement (CMU OmniClear), China Petroleum Finance (Hong Kong), EX.IO, Finloop, HashKey Group, JD Technology, PantherTrade (Hong Kong).

Source: Monetary Authority Attachment

From the list, the newly added banks this year mainly have a Chinese background, while the new pioneers are more from the digital asset and technology fields. On the same day, Citic Bank International also announced that it has completed pilot testing for gold trading supported by tokenized deposits under the Monetary Authority's Ensemble project in collaboration with the Hong Kong Gold Exchange; the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury also mentioned at the FinTech Week that the interbank tokenized gold trading project will be accompanied by tokenized deposits. Source: Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong SAR Government Press Release

3. Standard Chartered: The Group's First Market to Launch Tokenized Deposits

On November 2, Standard Chartered announced the launch of its tokenized deposit scheme in Hong Kong, making it the first market within the Standard Chartered Group to provide this scheme to corporate clients, with plans for gradual expansion to more markets in the future.

According to Standard Chartered, the scheme is based on its own blockchain infrastructure, developed with the support of the Monetary Authority's distributed ledger technology (DLT) regulatory incubator, and is supported by the EnsembleTX infrastructure. It allows qualifying clients to use traditional bank deposits in digital treasury and investment processes, including internal liquidity management within the group; tokenized deposits can be transferred in real-time between participating banks, with interbank settlement completed 24/7 using central bank currencies, including wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC). Standard Chartered stated that this enhances efficiency, interoperability, and predictability of settlements, while significantly reducing counterparty risk during fund circulation between financial institutions. The services target corporate treasury teams, banks, investment platforms, and digital asset businesses.

The scheme already has clients in operation. Standard Chartered stated that Huaxia Fund, Finloop, and PantherTrade have completed real tokenized deposit transactions and settlement of tokenized money market funds using EnsembleTX. Standard Chartered is also collaborating with the digital asset custody technology company Fireblocks to embed banking functionalities into its platform for digital asset clients; HashKey has also joined this ecosystem. Standard Chartered did not disclose the transaction amounts. Source: Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered's CEO for Hong Kong and Greater China, Mary Huen, stated that Standard Chartered has been a major participant in EnsembleTX, involved in its development and some of the earliest real value trading use cases, allowing Standard Chartered to experience firsthand how tokenization enhances efficiency, transparency, and interoperability in financial markets. Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Transaction Banking and Digital Assets at Standard Chartered, stated that the value of tokenized deposits lies in helping clients mobilize and manage liquidity more effectively between institutions and markets; this launch brings digital currency into actual treasury and investment processes, supported by the trust and oversight of the banking system.

This is not Standard Chartered's first step in the digital asset space in Hong Kong this year. In April, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, in partnership with Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecom, was issued one of Hong Kong's first stablecoin issuer licenses; in August, Standard Chartered Hong Kong became the first bank to distribute the HKD-pegged stablecoin HKDAP; the same month, HSBC and Standard Chartered completed real-time transactions of tokenized deposits on Swift's blockchain ledger. Source: Techub News, Techub News, Techub News

4. Tokenized Deposits and Stablecoins Running Parallel

Looking globally, banks are accelerating the process of moving deposits onto the blockchain. Citibank expanded its tokenized deposit service, "Citibank Token Service," to Japan and the UAE in September, covering seven markets; in the same month, Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, and six other UK banks completed the first real-time customer transactions of tokenized deposits in GBP. Yu Weiwen also mentioned in his statement that the trend of global banks issuing tokenized deposits is increasingly prominent. Source: Techub News, Techub News

Hong Kong's approach is to run tokenized deposits and stablecoins in parallel: licensed stablecoins regulated under the "Stablecoin Ordinance" serve broader payment and on-chain scenarios, while tokenized deposits retain the legal attributes and regulatory protection of bank deposits, primarily serving corporate treasury and institutional trading. The recent upgrade of interbank settlement to tokenized central bank currency in EnsembleTX fills the most critical gap for tokenized deposits: interbank clearing can also operate 24/7, just like on-chain transactions.

What is worth关注 in the future is the scale. The Monetary Authority indicated that the new function will further promote the expansion of transaction scale and explore more impactful tokenization use cases; however, to date, neither the Monetary Authority nor Standard Chartered has disclosed the transaction volume of tokenized deposits on EnsembleTX.

Editorial Note: This article is based on the press releases and attachments from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on November 2, the press release from Standard Chartered on November 2, the press release from the Hong Kong SAR Government, and the press release from HSBC. The list of participating banks and industry pioneers is based on the Monetary Authority's attachments, and the Chinese names of institutions are adopted from those in the Monetary Authority's attachments; the Chinese job titles of Standard Chartered personnel are translated for this article. No reports from Chinese cryptocurrency media have been cited in this article.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational reporting and analysis only and does not constitute any investment advice.

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