Over 30 global banks, including JPMorgan and Citi, are deploying Ethereum’s open-source Layer-2 stack for real payments and tokenised deposits, betting on resilience, regulation, and battle-tested code over proprietary chains.
Banks are standardising on Ethereum’s open-source stack as production financial infrastructure, shifting from experimental pilots and proprietary blockchains to live Layer-2 networks for tokenised deposits, interbank payments, and cross-border settlement.
More than 30 institutions — including Bank of America, Citi, TD Bank Group and Wells Fargo — are working with SWIFT on an Ethereum-based platform for international transactions. Regulatory clarity is accelerating the move. The GENIUS Act has established rules for stablecoins, while additional market standards are under consideration, giving banks greater confidence to deploy blockchain rails at scale.
Use cases are already operational. JPMorgan’s JPMCoin runs on Base, an Ethereum Layer-2. Citi, Vantage Bank and Custodia Bank issue tokenised, bank-backed US dollar deposits on Ethereum, with the Texas Bankers Association endorsing the Vantage–Custodia platform.
Executives cite resilience and decentralisation. “It’s very, very standard, very, very resilient, as we’ve seen across the ecosystem outside, but we run it on a very private basis. And because of that standardised nature, we think it gives us optionality to extend it and integrate it into other areas if possible,” said Bis Chatterjee, global head of partnerships and innovation at Citi.
Custodia Bank founder and CEO Caitlin Long said Ethereum was chosen “because it is the most battle-tested platform for smart contracts, with multiple [secure] stablecoin projects successfully operating on it for years,” adding that validator concentration on rival chains poses risks.
“Ethereum has a ton of momentum,” noted Paul Brody of EY, pointing to Layer-2 customisation for enterprise needs.
Despite alternatives such as Solana and Hyperledger, banks are converging on Ethereum, trusting open-source, battle-tested code over building from scratch.
