The Journal · Banking
Banks do not need protection from a ledger.
The choice is whether a bank operates the new rails or rents them. A chain does not underwrite, insure or take a complaint.
The popular question is why banks should fear a technology that moves value faster, more cheaply, and in a way that is easier to verify, and that banks themselves are allowed to use. The fear is misplaced. So is the boast that the ledger replaces the bank.
A shared ledger is a way to hold state, prove an ownership record, run a rule and coordinate a settlement. The Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements have both treated tokenisation as a way to cut reconciliation, compress settlement and automate routine work. That is an operations thesis. It is not a plan to abolish deposits.
In this piece
- 01A transfer is not a bank
- 02Tokenised central-bank money, deposits, and assets
- 03Products, not a crypto tab
- 04The moat moves
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