Change of currency at the treasury. 88% of the 422 financial managers of groups with more than $500 million in turnover are already deploying or piloting tokenized currency, according to a survey published this Wednesday, October 28 by the Singaporean bank DBS. Stablecoins top the list of instruments used ahead of tokenized bank deposits and blockchain-based monetary funds. The National Assembly voted for a tax on conversions into stablecoins at a time when financial departments in Asia and America were making it a common management tool.
Key Points
Nearly nine out of ten large groups have at least one tokenized currency pilot in progress
Currency-Pegged Tokens Outpace Tokenized Deposits and Blockchain Money Funds
Traceability and instant cross-border payments are the two gains expected within two years
No French company in the sample, Europe is limited to Germany and the United Kingdom
The renminbi is gaining ground as a settlement currency, including among the British
Stablecoins top responses from 422 treasurers
The study, called “The Great Rewiring: Money in a new order”, was carried out by EY for DBS in June and July 2026 in eleven countries. Germany (49 respondents), the United Kingdom (41), China (39), Indonesia (39) and Australia (37) form the bulk of the sample, supplemented by Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. Half of the respondents sit on the executive committee, the other half just below.
88% of companies are already deploying or piloting tokenized currency, and around two-thirds are already using it at scale or in select locations, according to the DBS report. Only 2% are not considering any additional settlement currencies.
On the instrument side, stablecoins received 63% of responses. Tokenized deposits follow at 53% and tokenized money market funds at 52%.
Expected profits within two years are financial plumbing rather than gambling. 72% of respondents expect better traceability of flows, 71% real-time cross-border payments, 66% better internal controls and 65% better managed liquidity.
Lim Soon Chong, head of DBS transaction services, sums up the advantage of stablecoins in one sentence: they offer “better fungibility between payment intermediaries, not just between banks”. In other words, USDC passes from one provider to another without waiting for two banks to reconcile.
Three tokenized currencies that are not equal
The three survey instruments look similar on screen and differ on paper. The stablecoin is issued by a private company, Tether or Circle, which keeps Treasury bills and cash in reserve to guarantee parity. You have a claim on the issuer, not a guaranteed bank deposit. USDT and USDC account for the bulk of a market of around $304 billion according to Galaxy Research, up 129% since the start of 2024.
Tokenized deposit is something else entirely. It’s your bank account, registered on a blockchain. JPMorgan launched its JPMD on Base. The token remains a liability of the bank, with the deposit guarantee and supervision that goes with it, but it only circulates between authorized clients.
Finally, the tokenized monetary fund is a part of a fund that provides a return, like JPMorgan’s MONY on Ethereum. Treasurers use it to park working cash, then convert it into stablecoin the day a supplier in Jakarta needs to be paid.
The companies surveyed want their bank to orchestrate all of this. 64% demand a single integration point and 63% demand support for their pilots. For DBS, which commissioned the study, banks must become the gateway to tokenized currency or risk seeing their customers leave for a stablecoin issuer.
Europe missing from the picture and the renminbi showing up
France does not appear in the survey. Europe is holding on to this with Germany and the United Kingdom, i.e. 90 respondents out of 422. The rest of the world is moving forward without waiting for the Old Continent, where the dependence on stablecoins in dollars worries the ECB and where tokenized deposits in euros remain laboratory projects.
Washington has chosen its side. On October 26, the OCC, the regulator of American national banks, called on community banks to enter the stablecoin payments market, a few days after finalizing the rules for implementing the GENIUS Act, which comes into force in January 2027. Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury, reminded Ripple Swell on Tuesday that more than 90% of stablecoins are backed by the dollar.
The DBS investigation, however, slips a stone into America’s shoes. 78% of companies have already diversified their settlement currencies, and the renminbi is growing as a trading currency. More than half of UK and Australian respondents plan to use it within one to two years. “The Chinese authorities are clearly pushing the internationalization of the renminbi, so we expect this to increase,” comments Lim Soon Chong.
Of the groups surveyed, 55% have selective exposure to multiple currencies and 23% already settle trades outside of reserve currencies.
