TL;DR
- DBS found 88% of surveyed businesses are piloting, using or fully deploying tokenized money, while only 12% remain in exploration or non-use.
- Stablecoins lead current or planned adoption at 63%, followed by tokenized deposits at 53%, tokenized money market funds at 52% and CBDCs at 51%.
- Strategic agility, operational complexity and liquidity optimisation rank as leading adoption drivers, while regulatory uncertainty, security concerns and integration challenges continue limiting wider deployment.
DBS research shows tokenized money has moved beyond exploration for most large businesses surveyed, though adoption is occurring at different stages. The 2026 global report surveyed 422 CFOs, finance heads and senior treasury executives at organisations generating more than $500 million annually across 11 markets. A combined 88% of respondents are piloting, using or fully deploying tokenized money, while 12% remain in exploration or non-use, reinforcing growing interest in stablecoins and digital money.
Tokenized Money Adoption Spans Pilots and Live Deployment
The 88% figure does not mean all respondents have reached production scale. DBS found 24% had tokenized-money use cases fully deployed and operational at scale, while 43% reported limited live use in selected geographies and another 21% remained at pilot or proof-of-concept stage. The largest group is already using tokenized money in live environments, but only about one-quarter has deployed it at scale. That distinction matters when comparing the findings with other corporate stablecoin adoption surveys.
Companies are also taking a portfolio approach rather than converging on one digital-money format. Stablecoins lead the instruments currently used or planned for adoption at 63%, followed by tokenized deposits at 53%, tokenized money market funds at 52% and CBDCs at 51%. Cryptocurrencies rank lower at 35%. The survey points toward coexistence between several forms of tokenized money rather than a single winner, mirroring how banks are developing blockchain-based deposit systems alongside other digital settlement instruments.
The strongest adoption driver was strategic agility during periods of increased market volatility, selected by 55% of respondents. Managing operational complexity followed at 53%, while 51% cited optimising liquidity management and future-proofing treasury operating models. Visibility across cash, liquidity and payment flows reached 45%, while extending payment processing beyond banking hours reached 38%. Businesses are therefore treating tokenization as a treasury resilience tool, not simply a faster payment technology, as institutions increasingly connect tokenized money with existing banking rails.
Expected benefits remain near term. For traceability and auditability, 24% said they were already experiencing benefits and another 48% expected them within one to two years. Real-time cross-border payments showed a similar pattern, with 23% already seeing benefits and 48% expecting them within that timeframe. DBS concludes that execution readiness, rather than demand, is the main bottleneck, with regulatory uncertainty, security concerns, internal expertise, integration complexity and unclear ROI among the obstacles cited by respondents today.
