How Banks Are Using Stablecoins, Custody & Tokenization in 2026
The 4 digital asset use cases banks are monetizing in 2026: custody, stablecoin transaction banking, trading and brokerage, and tokenization.
John Hallahan, Director of Business Solutions and Advisory for EMEA at Fireblocks, walks through how leading banks are building a single horizontal infrastructure stack to deliver across all four use cases, with real customer examples from BNY, ABN AMRO, Revolut, Banking Circle, JPMorgan, Citi, and DBS.
This is Episode 2 of the Banking Bootcamp, a three-part webinar series produced in partnership with American Banker. The series is built to help banks confidently evaluate and build a digital asset strategy, from understanding the market landscape to launching production-ready use cases.
What you'll learn:
00:00 Intro and series recap
02:23 Why customer demand is pulling banks into digital assets
04:38 Poll 1: Which use case are banks tackling first
06:46 Use Case 1: Digital asset custody and why it's the foundation
13:05 Direct custody vs. sub-custody: control, data, and client experience
17:30 Custody in production: BNY, Revolut, ABN AMRO, Nubank
20:30 Use Case 2: Commercial and transaction banking with digital money
22:00 Stablecoin volume hits 50% of SWIFT, market cap above $300B
26:46 Four strategic pathways: third-party stablecoins, issue your own, tokenized deposits, deposit tokens
29:45 Poll 2: How banks are choosing their digital money strategy
32:23 Use Case 3: Trading and brokerage, and the revenue migrating to fintechs
36:50 Building a trading platform on Fireblocks Network
40:05 Use Case 4: Asset issuance and tokenization
43:30 Why settlement speed, capital efficiency, and direct distribution matter
46:15 Tokenization in production: BlackRock BUIDL, WisdomTree, Prypco, Front
47:41 Poll 3: Greatest benefit of tokenization
50:00 Live Q&A: tokenized deposits vs. stablecoins, deposit outflows to fintechs, community bank strategy, tokenized deposits vs. deposit tokens, bank consortiums
Key takeaways:
A horizontal infrastructure stack lets banks reuse the same wallet and custody layer across custody, payments, trading, and tokenization, instead of building four separate stacks.
Direct custody keeps customer data, control, and the end-to-end client experience inside the bank. Sub-custody hands all three to a third party.
Stablecoin volume now represents roughly half of SWIFT volume, with a market cap above $300B. 63% of customers expect their bank to be their primary stablecoin provider.
There is no one-size-fits-all digital money strategy. Banks are mixing third-party stablecoins, proprietary stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and deposit tokens based on customer demand and jurisdiction.
Trading revenue is migrating to crypto-native and fintech platforms growing at 50-76% annually, while traditional bank trading divisions grow at 7-16%.
Tokenization has moved past theory: $300B+ in tokenized cash, $15B+ in tokenized securities, with money market funds and equities lined up as the next scaled use cases.
About this series: The Banking Bootcamp is a three-part webinar series produced in partnership with American Banker, designed to help banks navigate the shift to onchain financial services. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss Episode 3.
Learn more about Fireblocks: https://www.fireblocks.com/solutions/digital-asset-infrastructure
Explore Fireblocks Wallet Infrastructure: https://www.fireblocks.com/products/wallets-as-a-service
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