DeCurret DCP Begins Pilot for Interbank Settlement of Tokenised Deposits, Selected for FSA-Supported Programme

1. [News] Testing 24/7 Real-Time Gross Settlement Through FSA's 'FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub'

Source: DeCurret DCP and two other companies to conduct a pilot project for interbank settlement of tokenized deposits

DeCurret DCP, GMO Aozora Net Bank, and ABeam Consulting are launching a pilot to improve interbank settlements using tokenised deposits. The project has been selected for the Financial Services Agency's (FSA) "FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub," making it the third initiative under the Hub's "Advanced Payment Project (PIP)." The core challenge is completing interbank settlements onchain when tokenised deposits are transferred between multiple banks.

The pilot will test two settlement methods. The first is the "lead bank method," in which a designated private bank simultaneously processes user-to-user tokenised deposit transfers and interbank settlements. The second is the "collaboration method," which uses stablecoins to process interbank settlements associated with user-to-user transfers. The experiment aims to verify the feasibility and legality of 24/7 real-time gross settlement for tokenised deposit transfers, targeting reduced settlement risk, compressed liquidity requirements, and lower operational burden. DeCurret DCP serves as the representative applicant, GMO Aozora Net Bank as the lead bank, and ABeam Consulting as the secretariat, with additional financial institutions including Hokuriku Bank expected to participate.

2. [Commentary] DCJPY's Next Challenge: From 'Single Platform' to 'Interbank Settlement Layer'

DeCurret DCP's pilot signals that the DCJPY project has entered a new phase. DCJPY, Japan's flagship tokenised deposit network, has so far focused on building a structure where multiple banks issue and circulate tokenised deposits on a single platform. But for tokenised deposits to scale, the interbank settlement problem, settling obligations when tokenised deposits are transferred between different banks, must be resolved. In the existing banking system, settlement through central bank reserve accounts (e.g., BOJ-NET) handles this role, but it operates only during business hours and processes in batches. If tokenised deposits move 24/7 in real time while settlement remains tethered to legacy systems, a bottleneck emerges.

The two methods under testing carry distinct trade-offs. The lead bank method concentrates liquidity in a single institution acting as the central settlement agent, offering efficiency but increasing dependency and counterparty risk on that institution. The collaboration method uses stablecoins as a settlement medium to maintain decentralisation, but introduces new variables around the issuer and credit structure of the settlement stablecoin. Both methods effectively bypass the existing central bank settlement infrastructure, making the relationship with the Bank of Japan a key issue going forward.

If Korea's Project Hangang represents a "top-down" approach, with the Bank of Korea designing wCBDC and deposit tokens on unified infrastructure, Japan's DCJPY takes a "bottom-up" path, building the tokenised deposit network first and solving interbank settlement retroactively. Both approaches ultimately aim for the same destination: infrastructure where tokenised deposits issued by multiple banks interoperate at par. But the difference in paths may produce structural divergences over time.