DBS Survey Finds Broad Corporate Tokenized Cash Use
Large businesses are moving tokenized money from discussion into use and testing, according to a DBS survey cited by Reuters. The survey found that 88% of respondents had deployed or were piloting tokenized money use cases, while stablecoins were the most widely adopted instrument.
The findings point to corporate interest in tokenized payment and liquidity tools across several markets, although the survey reflects organizations with annual revenue above $500 million rather than the broader business population.
What happened
Reuters reported on Wednesday that DBS surveyed 422 global business and finance leaders from organizations with annual revenue exceeding $500 million. The survey was conducted between June and July across 11 markets, including the U.S., UK, Australia, China and Germany.
According to Reuters, 88% of the surveyed businesses had either deployed tokenized money or were piloting related use cases. Roughly two-thirds said their organizations had fully deployed tokenized money at scale or had begun using it in selected locations.
Stablecoins were the most prevalent tokenized instrument among those in use or under consideration, at 63%, CoinDesk reported. Tokenized deposits followed at 53%, while tokenized money market funds stood at 52%.
The ranking suggests that the surveyed companies are considering more than one form of tokenized money. Stablecoins, tokenized bank deposits and tokenized money market funds each have a material reported presence in the survey, rather than a single instrument accounting for all activity.
DBS group head of global transaction services Lim Soon Chong said global adoption was moving faster than expected among businesses seeking better liquidity management and access to new markets, according to Reuters.
Why it matters
The survey places tokenized money in a corporate treasury and transaction-services setting, rather than presenting it solely as a retail crypto product. The reported use cases center on how businesses manage liquidity and engage with new markets.
For large organizations, deployment at scale and deployment in selected locations are meaningfully different stages. Reuters reported that roughly two-thirds of respondents fell into one of those categories, while the larger 88% figure also includes businesses that are still piloting use cases. That distinction indicates that reported interest and operational implementation should not be treated as the same measure.
Stablecoins’ 63% share made them the leading instrument in the survey, ahead of tokenized deposits and tokenized money market funds. Lim said stablecoins offer better fungibility across payment intermediaries and are less cumbersome from a permissioning standpoint, according to DBS.
At the same time, the survey’s results do not identify a single universal corporate preference. The reported figures for tokenized deposits and tokenized money market funds show that firms are also assessing instruments associated with banks and money market products.
The survey population also matters when interpreting the data. Its respondents came from organizations with more than $500 million in annual revenue, Reuters reported. The findings therefore describe the views and activity of a large-business sample, not a measure of adoption among companies of all sizes.
Background and context
DBS said businesses are adopting tokenized money faster than expected as they seek to improve liquidity management and reach new markets. Lim framed the development around transaction services, with stablecoins potentially offering a more flexible instrument across payment intermediaries than alternatives requiring more extensive permissioning.
Geographic expansion is also part of the survey picture. Global Banking & Finance Review reported that Southeast Asia ranked as the top market for expansion, followed by Australia/New Zealand and India.
Reuters separately reported that more than half of respondents in both Australia and the UK said they were considering use of the Chinese renminbi for trade settlement over the next 1 to 2 years. The survey result identifies an area of consideration among respondents, not a statement that those businesses have adopted the renminbi for settlement.
Together, the findings connect tokenized money with two related corporate questions: which tokenized instrument to use, and where businesses intend to expand or settle trade. DBS’s survey does not establish how individual respondents selected among stablecoins, tokenized deposits or tokenized money market funds, but it reports meaningful activity across all three categories.
What to watch
A key question is how the reported pilot activity develops relative to full or selected-location deployments. Reuters reported both measures, but the survey findings do not specify which tokenized instruments are being used in each deployment stage.
It will also be important to follow whether the current ranking of instruments changes. Stablecoins led at 63%, according to CoinDesk, while tokenized deposits and tokenized money market funds were reported at 53% and 52%, respectively.
Further detail on regional use cases would clarify the survey’s expansion findings. Southeast Asia was the leading expansion destination in the results reported by Global Banking & Finance Review, while Reuters identified interest in Chinese renminbi trade settlement among respondents in Australia and the UK.
Finally, the survey leaves open how closely corporate experimentation translates into broader implementation. DBS reported extensive deployment or piloting among its large-business respondents, but the available results do not break out adoption by market, instrument or specific operational use case.
