88% of Large Firms Surveyed Use or Test Tokenized Money, DBS Says

Nearly nine in 10 large companies surveyed are using or testing tokenized money, according to research commissioned by Singapore’s DBS. The findings show corporate treasury teams exploring new ways to move funds across borders and manage cash, although widespread experimentation has not yet translated into equally broad deployment at scale.

The study, conducted by EY, surveyed 422 business and finance leaders from organizations with annual revenue exceeding $500 million across 11 markets. Its results describe that large-company sample, rather than establishing an adoption rate for businesses generally or for smaller enterprises with different treasury needs.

The headline adoption figure includes several stages of implementation. While 24% of respondents reported deployment at scale, 43% said their organizations had limited live use in selected markets and 21% were conducting pilots or proofs of concept. The remaining 12% were exploring the technology or not using it.

Stablecoins ranked first among instruments respondents were using or planning to adopt, at 63%. Tokenized deposits followed at 53%, with tokenized money market funds at 52%. Those figures combine existing activity with intended adoption, an important distinction when assessing how deeply the instruments have entered everyday corporate finance.

The appeal centers on practical treasury functions rather than cryptocurrency price exposure. Respondents identified faster cross-border payments, better transaction tracking and more effective liquidity management as benefits they had experienced or expected within two years. Those expectations suggest that companies are evaluating the technology against operational needs, not simply whether they can launch a blockchain pilot.

Round-the-clock settlement is one reason these tools matter to companies operating across time zones. DBS offers infrastructure in this area through its Token Services business, launched in 2024. That commercial involvement provides context for the research: the bank commissioning the survey also supplies services in the market it examines.

The broader backdrop is a more complicated environment for corporate cash management. DBS’s report describes organizations responding to shifting trade corridors, currency volatility and fragmented payment systems. For treasury teams, adding markets and payment options can increase flexibility while also creating more systems and banking relationships to coordinate.

Adoption therefore does not eliminate the need for operational safeguards. Respondents identified regulatory and compliance uncertainty, security concerns, limited expertise and integration complexity as barriers. A successful pilot is not, by itself, evidence that an organization can extend the same arrangement across its markets and existing finance systems.

Banks remain central to how many respondents want that expansion to happen. Some 64% wanted banks to provide a single integration point into the tokenized-money ecosystem, while 63% sought assistance with pilots and implementation. The findings indicate demand for support connecting new infrastructure, rather than a straightforward move away from banking intermediaries.

The next stage will be whether limited deployments and experiments develop into broader operational use. DBS’s outlook emphasizes coordinating multiple settlement networks while maintaining security, control and compliance. With only about a quarter of respondents reporting deployment at scale, the survey points to substantial corporate engagement—but also considerable implementation work still ahead.