New York Stock Exchange sign on Broad Street for a bank tokenized-deposit and stablecoin competition story.

America’s Biggest Banks Are Building Their Own Answer to USDT and USDC

By Isaac • June 6, 2026 10:28 pm • Comments

The largest U.S. banks have spent years warning about stablecoins. Now they are building a competing product.

CoinDesk reported on June 6 that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and other major lenders plan to launch a shared tokenized deposit network through The Clearing House by the first half of 2027.

The target is clear. Banks want to keep customer dollars on their own balance sheets while copying the around-the-clock speed that made USDT and USDC useful in crypto markets.

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That speed pressure is real. On CoinGecko’s June 6 market table, Tether’s USDT ranked third by market capitalization and Circle’s USDC ranked fifth, which puts both dollar tokens squarely among the five largest digital assets.

The core difference between a tokenized deposit and a stablecoin comes down to who controls the underlying money.

A stablecoin is issued by a crypto-native or fintech company against reserves it holds. A tokenized deposit represents an existing bank deposit as a digital token while the money stays inside the regulated banking system.

For the banks, that distinction is the whole point. They get blockchain settlement without handing depositors a reason to move cash out the door.

CoinDesk added these details:

According to CoinDesk: CoinDesk reported on June 6 that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and other major lenders plan to launch a shared tokenized deposit network through The Clearing House by the first half of 2027. The report framed the project as a direct answer to stablecoins, especially Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT, which already dominate crypto’s dollar-token market.

The important distinction is control of the underlying money. A stablecoin is issued by a crypto-native or fintech issuer against reserves.

A tokenized deposit would represent a bank deposit as a digital token while the money remains inside the banking system. CoinDesk also cited Jefferies estimates that stablecoins could cause a 3% to 5% runoff in core deposits over the next five years and reduce average bank earnings by about 3%.

CoinGecko ranked Tether’s USDT third and Circle’s USDC fifth by market capitalization during the June 6, 2026 Central-time story selection check. The initiative is designed to counter the rise of stablecoins such as USDC and USDT while keeping funds inside the regulated banking system.

Tokenized deposits would represent bank deposits as digital tokens that can move across blockchain infrastructure, while the underlying funds remain in the banking system.

A few percent of core deposits sounds small until you apply it across the largest U.S. lenders. That is the deposit drain the consortium is trying to stop before it compounds.

The plumbing matters here. The Clearing House is a bank-owned payments operator, not an open crypto protocol.

Cointelegraph added these details:

According to Cointelegraph: Some of the largest U.S. banks are planning a tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027 in response to stablecoin companies moving deeper into traditional finance. The Clearing House, a bank-owned payments operator, would run the network and connect traditional payment systems with digital asset infrastructure for around-the-clock settlement.

The Clearing House is co-owned by large banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, BNY and Wells Fargo. That ownership point matters because the network would not be an open crypto-native dollar token.

It would be a bank-operated system built to preserve deposit relationships while giving corporate customers some of the speed and programmability they see in stablecoin settlement. Tokenized deposits would represent bank deposits as digital tokens that can move across blockchain infrastructure, while the underlying funds remain in the banking system.

CoinDesk cited Jefferies estimates that stablecoins could drive a 3% to 5% runoff in core deposits over the next five years and shrink average bank earnings by about 3%. The Clearing House is co-owned by major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, BNY and Wells Fargo.

That ownership structure tells you what kind of network this will be. It is bank-operated, built to preserve deposit relationships while giving corporate customers some of the programmability they see in stablecoin settlement.

There is a competitive backdrop the banks have not hidden. Cointelegraph noted that large U.S. lenders have pushed back against crypto legislation that could let stablecoin issuers pay users yield.

That fight makes sense from a balance-sheet view. A yield-bearing stablecoin competes directly with a checking account, and banks would rather offer their own token than watch deposits chase a better rate elsewhere.

None of this is live yet. The network is targeted for the first half of 2027, and a 2027 launch leaves plenty of room for the design, regulation and adoption details to shift.

The signal is what counts right now. The biggest names in American banking are no longer just critics of dollar tokens.

They are now competitors, and they picked a launch window because two stablecoins in crypto’s top five forced their hand.

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