DBS: 88% of surveyed large businesses use or pilot tokenized money

A survey focused on large organizations

DBS published a survey on October 28, 2026, in which 88% of participating businesses said they were deploying or piloting tokenized money use cases. The result combines different situations: a company running a pilot falls within this group, alongside an organization already using these instruments. The figure therefore does not measure the share of businesses that have moved their entire treasury onto a blockchain, or the proportion of payments actually settled through these channels.

The report, The Great Rewiring: Money in a new order, was commissioned by DBS and conducted by EY. It draws on responses from 422 finance executives and business leaders at organizations with annual revenue above $500 million. The sample covers 11 markets across Asia, Europe, and North America. This focus on large organizations matters when interpreting the findings: the study does not represent all businesses or small and midsize companies.

Stablecoins, deposits, and funds are different instruments

Stablecoins were the most frequently cited tokenized instruments, at 63%, followed by tokenized deposits at 53% and tokenized money market funds at 52%. These categories can coexist within the same organization, so the percentages should not be added together as mutually exclusive shares. They also refer to different instruments. Digitizing a bank deposit and digitizing a fund share do not create the same financial relationship between the holder and the issuer.

Expected benefits primarily concern financial operations. Over the next two years, 72% of respondents expect improved traceability and auditability, while 71% anticipate real-time cross-border payments. Stronger internal controls and governance were cited by 66%, and improved treasury liquidity management by 65%. These are expectations expressed by participants, rather than productivity gains already recorded across every business in the survey.

Operational barriers and a commercially involved sponsor

The study identifies continuing barriers: regulatory and compliance uncertainty, data security, operational risks, limited expertise, and integration complexity. An available technology is therefore not enough to establish a payment process that can operate at scale. Respondents notably want banks to provide a single integration point into the ecosystem, at 64%, and support for pilots, proofs of concept, and integration, at 63%.

DBS also supplies financial services associated with these applications; it is not an outside observer of the market being studied. That commercial position accompanies self-reported findings from large organizations. The survey offers an indicator of interest and experimentation, together with specific treasury needs. Its 88% figure alone does not provide a universal measure of adoption, guarantee profitability, or demonstrate that compliance and interoperability constraints have disappeared.