Monument Bank Taps Privacy-Focused Midnight to Tokenize $10B in Retail Deposits

Summary

• Monument Bank is tokenizing £7 billion (~$10B) in retail deposits on the Midnight Network, claiming a world-first for direct retail tokenized deposits from a regulated bank.
• Tokenized deposits will pay interest with full Bank of England guarantees, mirroring traditional fiat deposits but on a blockchain.
• The initiative aims to democratize private banking by enabling fractionalized access to assets like private equity, reducing minimum investments from hundreds of thousands to smaller units.
• Midnight Network provides programmable privacy, storing only proofs of data on-chain to ensure GDPR compliance without exposing sensitive client information.
• Midnight's mainnet launch is imminent (end of March), with phased feature unlocks planned through Q2, including composable contracts and privacy enhancements.
• The technology abstracts blockchain complexity for customers, presenting it as seamless banking services, similar to ordering an Uber.
• Future roadmap includes integrating other real-world assets (RWA), stablecoins, and enabling lending/borrowing within a shielded environment.
• Monument plans to offer this tokenization capability as banking-as-a-service to other institutions, with one UK party already interested.
• The partnership is positioned at the intersection of AI and blockchain, emphasizing trust, security, and efficiency gains over legacy systems.
• Key uncertainties include customer education, regulatory acceptance in phases, and the successful rollout of Midnight's mainnet features.