Wells Fargo to offer 24/7 tokenized corporate payments

Wells Fargo will begin offering tokenized U.S. dollar-to-pound deposits to eligible corporate and commercial clients this fall. The service will support transfers at any hour, including weekends and holidays, and will include programmable payments that release funds when predefined conditions are met.

The bank plans to integrate the service into its existing payments platform so transactions that can benefit from faster timing or added flexibility will automatically route through tokenized deposits. Wells Fargo confirmed tokenized balances will remain liabilities on its balance sheet and will retain regulatory protections and eligibility for deposit insurance.

Mike Santomassimo, Wells Fargo’s chief financial officer, described tokenized deposits as enabling corporate clients to move money between accounts and across borders with increased speed and at any hour.

Cosmos technology was used to build the underlying system, according to Cosmos Labs executives. Magmar, co-CEO of Cosmos Labs, described the launch as a validation of the network’s interoperability, programmability and reliability. Vladimir Tikhomirov, co-founder of Algebra, noted the dollar-pound corridor marks blockchain entering regulated foreign exchange and cross-border settlement and warned that isolated private networks could fragment liquidity.

Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, wrote that banks already run real-time internal payments using modern databases and do not require permissioned blockchains. He argued private ledgers remove features of public blockchains such as open validation, censorship resistance and strong settlement guarantees, and could introduce operational risks without delivering public-network benefits.

Wells Fargo is among a small group of large banks testing tokenized deposits and onchain settlement inside the regulated banking framework. The bank plans a wider rollout across more clients, countries and currencies in 2027.