Nearly 90% of large businesses are embracing tokenized cash to speed up payments: DBS
Nearly 90% of large businesses are adopting tokenized forms of cash to accelerate payments and treasury operations, according to a report from DBS cited by CoinDesk. The survey found stablecoins were the most-used or planned instrument at 63%, ahead of tokenized bank deposits at 53% and tokenized money market funds at 52%, signalling a broad cross-industry movement toward digital cash instruments.
What the findings show
The DBS data highlights a widening corporate shift away from traditional payment rails toward tokenized cash instruments that can settle on blockchain-based systems. Stablecoins — fiat-pegged tokens designed to maintain value parity with currencies such as the U.S. dollar — topped the list of instruments that firms are already using or intend to deploy. Tokenized deposits and money market funds are close behind, indicating firms are exploring both bank-backed and securities-like tokenized solutions as part of treasury modernization efforts.
While the report focuses on large businesses, the composition of instrument preferences suggests firms are seeking a range of tokenized products that offer different trade-offs between liquidity, credit exposure and regulatory oversight.
Why this matters for crypto markets
The broad corporate embrace of tokenized cash has multiple implications for the crypto market. First, increased corporate demand for stablecoins and tokenized deposits could deepen on-chain liquidity pools and encourage more frequent use of programmable money for settlement, treasury management and intra-company payments. Greater on-chain flows may increase the volume of stablecoin usage on exchanges, decentralized finance platforms and custodial services, potentially changing patterns of liquidity provision and market microstructure for major crypto assets.
Second, growing institutional use underscores the importance of custody, settlement infrastructure and compliance capabilities. Banks, custodians and exchanges that can offer secure, regulated custody for tokenized cash and native on-chain settlement services may find competitive advantage. The move also raises focus on interoperability between permissioned and public blockchains, and on settlement finality — key technical and operational issues for exchanges and market makers dealing with tokenized liquidity.
Finally, regulators and policy makers will take note. Stablecoins remain a focal point for regulatory scrutiny because their growth intersects with payments, financial stability and consumer protection concerns. As corporates scale tokenized cash usage, expectations for transparent reserve management, auditability and legal certainty around tokenized deposits and tokenized funds are likely to increase.
For major crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ether, the corporate shift toward tokenized cash is more about complementary infrastructure than direct substitution. Tokenized cash operates primarily as a payments and settlement medium; its adoption could indirectly support on-chain activity that uses Ether for gas or Bitcoin and Ether as reserve assets in certain corporate treasury strategies, but the report does not link tokenized cash adoption to any specific holdings of BTC or ETH.
Market participants should monitor regulatory guidance on stablecoins and tokenized deposits, the development of custody and settlement services by banks and exchanges, and pilots that test interoperability between traditional finance systems and blockchain rails. Transparency around reserve backing and audit practices for tokenized cash instruments will also be a key area to watch as firms scale usage.