Stablecoins vs CBDCs vs Tokenised Deposits: Who Owes You the Money?

Open a wallet app in 2026 and a dollar can arrive in at least three different forms that look identical on screen. One is a stablecoin issued by a private company. One is central bank money. One is a bank deposit that has been turned into a token. They behave alike until something goes wrong, and then the only question that matters is who owes you the money.

The one question that sorts them

Every form of money is a promise. Cash is a promise from the central bank. A bank balance is a promise from your bank, backed by deposit insurance and regulation. Digital money in tokens follows the same logic:

• A stablecoin is a promise from a private issuer, backed by reserves the issuer holds.
• A CBDC is a promise from the central bank, issued digitally.
• A tokenised deposit is a promise from a commercial bank, recorded on a ledger as a token.

Speed, cost and programmability can be similar across all three. The liability is what differs.

The comparison

Stablecoins: big, global and private

According to DefiLlama, stablecoins were worth about $306 billion in October 2026, with USDT and USDC together making up more than four fifths of that. Their great strength is reach: a freelancer in Lagos and a client in Toronto can both hold the same token on the same network without sharing a bank. If you are new to them, start with what is a stablecoin.

The weakness is the one central bankers keep pointing out. In its June 2025 annual report, the BIS argued that stablecoins fail three tests of sound money, as The Block reported. Singleness: different stablecoins can trade at slightly different values, unlike bank money that always swaps at par. Elasticity: issuers can only create new tokens when someone pays in full upfront, so supply cannot stretch like bank credit. Integrity: not every issuer applies the same anti-money-laundering checks. New laws in the US and EU address some of this, which we cover in GENIUS Act and MiCA.

CBDCs: the safest promise, the hardest sell

A CBDC is as safe as money gets, because the central bank cannot run out of its own currency. India's e₹, for example, is legal tender and a direct RBI liability, according to the RBI's FAQ. But retail CBDCs face an awkward trade-off. If they are too attractive, people pull money out of banks. So designers cap them and pay no interest, which makes them less appealing to use. That is why the digital euro will have a holding limit and why China switched the e-CNY to interest-bearing bank deposit money in 2026.

Wholesale CBDCs, used only between banks, avoid that trade-off and are moving faster. See our CBDC tracker for where each country stands.

Ask who you would call if the money vanished. That tells you which kind of digital money you hold.

Tokenised deposits: the banks' answer

Tokenised deposits are the newest of the three and the least visible to consumers. In November 2025, JPMorgan rolled out its deposit token, JPMD, on Base, a public blockchain network, after a pilot, The Block reported. It represents ordinary JPMorgan deposits, is available to institutional clients around the clock, and settles almost instantly.

The appeal for banks is obvious. A tokenised deposit keeps money on the bank's balance sheet, where it can support lending, while gaining the speed and programmability of a token. It also inherits bank regulation, which answers the integrity worry. The BIS-led Project Agorá is built around the same idea: tokenised deposits settling against tokenised central bank reserves. In May 2026 its prototype settled cross-border payments in seconds across seven central banks' systems.

The limitation is reach. A deposit token from one bank is mainly useful between that bank's clients, or between banks that agree to accept each other's tokens.

One invoice, three ways to get paid

Imagine a graphic designer in Nairobi invoicing a small agency in London for $1,000.

• Paid in a stablecoin: the agency sends USDC from its wallet and the designer sees it in minutes, any day of the week. She then needs a licensed exchange or provider to turn it into shillings, and she is trusting the issuer's reserves while she holds it.
• Paid in a CBDC: today this barely works across borders for individuals. Neither country offers a retail CBDC the two could use, and cross-border CBDC links are still largely wholesale arrangements between banks.
• Paid in a tokenised deposit: this works only if both businesses bank somewhere that issues and accepts the same deposit token, which for now means large institutional clients.

The example shows why each form has found a different home. Stablecoins win on reach for individuals and small firms. Tokenised deposits suit big corporates already inside a bank's network. CBDCs mostly operate behind the scenes.

The lines are blurring

The neat categories are already breaking down. China's e-CNY now sits on commercial bank balance sheets and pays interest, which makes it look like a tokenised deposit with central bank oversight. Regulated stablecoins hold more of their reserves in short-term government debt and are subject to bank-like supervision. Banks are putting deposit tokens on public blockchains that stablecoins use.

Our view is that the end state will not be one winner. Central bank money will settle the system underneath. Tokenised deposits will dominate between large institutions. Stablecoins will keep their edge where reach matters most, such as cross-border transfers to people without a shared bank, which is why they have become central to payments far beyond crypto trading.

Market data is as of October 2026 and changes daily.

About this researchMuffinPay InsightsIndependent analysis of stablecoins, CBDCs, cross-border payments and digital public infrastructure. Every figure is linked to its source. Read our editorial standards →