Monument Bank Plans Tokenized Retail Deposits on Midnight Blockchain

JPMorgan and Citi have processed large sums through blockchain, but tokenized payment services remain focused on institutional clients and permissioned networks. According to ChainCatcher, Monument Bank is seeking to bring tokenization to retail banking by planning to tokenize up to 250 million pounds of customer deposits on the privacy-focused Midnight public blockchain. The U.K. challenger bank said the deposits would continue to earn interest, remain fully backed by the bank, be redeemable 1:1 for pounds, and be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The project uses zero-knowledge proofs to protect customer data and meet regulatory requirements, while allowing users to interact without needing to understand or directly use cryptocurrency. Monument Bank founder Mintoo Bhandari said most tokenization projects are still internal bank initiatives and have not yet enabled direct retail participation. The bank also plans to offer fractional private equity, tokenized structured products, and Lombard loans through its regular banking app, and is considering licensing related infrastructure to other banks through its subsidiary Monument Technology.