Digital assets and new forms of money were among the hottest topics on day one of Sibos Frankfurt 2025. Central banks, commercial banks and technology providers are experimenting with tokenised deposits, stablecoins and wholesale central bank digital currencies to improve cross-border payments. Manuel Klein, Head of Market Management, Payments and Digital Currencies at Deutsche Bank, outlined the bank’s two-pronged approach: using distributed ledger technology to make cross-border payments more efficient within the existing monetary system, and exploring stablecoins as a new form of money. His comments offered insight into how a global transaction bank views the evolving payment rails of the future. Two angles on digital money Klein said the industry is applying distributed ledger technology in two ways. One is “making cross-border payments more efficient” in the two-tier system where bank deposits are settled in central bank money, through tokenised deposits and wholesale settlement assets. Deutsche Bank is involved in Project Agora and Partior, where it has executed its first live transactions. The other is stablecoins, which provide “a new form of money which can also reach the end user”. This mirrors the wider debate on whether tokenisation should focus on wholesale or retail use cases. Adoption challenges versus ease of stablecoins Tokenised deposits and wholesale settlement assets are harder to adopt because they require “a network of banks” to join and implement them. Stablecoins, by contrast, are bearer instruments and therefore easier to hold, though their use cases differ from institutional tokenised deposits. “It’s an additional payment rail, invisible to the client but allows additional features,” Klein said. This distinction highlights the complexity of modernising infrastructure for business-to-business and interbank payments compared with retail transactions. Supporting Swift’s move into settlement Klein welcomed Swift’s new initiative announced at Sibos to create an agnostic ledger covering deposits, central bank money and stablecoins. “It’s an interesting approach,” he said, because Swift has historically been only a messaging platform but is now entering “the ledger and settlement piece” as well. This shift could accelerate interoperability between different forms of money and aligns with the Bank for International Settlements’ concept of a unified ledger. Moving towards more open infrastructures On public versus private blockchains, Klein argued that the industry is moving away from closed, bank-centric systems toward more public-permissioned infrastructures. “The whole idea of blockchain and distributed ledger is that it is distributed,” he said, citing Deutsche Bank’s participation in Partior, Project Agora and stablecoins on open networks. The Bank for International Settlements unified ledger concept takes this one step closer, signalling a future in which multiple types of money could be settled on a single infrastructure. Preparing for faster, more integrated payments Beyond digital money, Deutsche Bank is also looking at linking instant payment systems such as Project Nexus to speed up cross-border transactions. Klein noted that while stablecoins are “fast moving” on permissionless infrastructures, business-to-business and wholesale settlement still need harmonisation and integration efforts. “The next years are definitely going to be interesting,” he said. His comments highlight both the opportunities and the hurdles in turning cutting-edge pilots into mainstream transaction banking solutions.
