Commercial Bank of Dubai joins European DLT initiative for tokenized deposits

Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) has joined the Commercial Bank Money Token (CBMT) initiative, which aims to bring bank money or tokenized deposits onto DLT ( Distributed Ledger Technology) platforms. Commercial Bank of Dubai has become the first bank from outside Europe to join the CBMT network.

CBD will now connect the European CBMT ecosystem with the Europe–Gulf trade corridor, helping corporate clients with faster, more transparent cross-border settlement. As a first step, CBD will onboard to the CBMT Sandbox, working with fellow participant banks and the Sandbox’s technical service providers, UDPN and GFT, to explore use cases including cross-border corporate payments, trade settlement, cross-jurisdiction treasury operations and working capital optimization along the Europe–Gulf corridor. All Sandbox activities are being conducted in line with applicable regulatory requirements in participating jurisdictions and do not represent a commitment to commercial launch.

The Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN) is an advanced DLT-based messaging infrastructure that enables interoperability among regulated digital currency rails, enterprise systems, and current core-banking systems, supporting stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and CBDCs to streamline token-based payments worldwide

The CBMT initiative, spearheaded by Die Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft (DK) and supported by participants including Commerzbank, DZ Bank, Helaba, UniCredit, ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas and DNB, aims to bring commercial bank money onto distributed ledger technology (DLT), enabling banks to settle corporate payments in tokenised form.

Tokenised commercial bank money remains on the issuing bank’s balance sheet as a regulated bank deposit, subject to the same prudential standards as traditional bank deposits. For CBD’s corporate and institutional clients, this model delivers the innovative potential of DLT while upholding the same prudential standards that govern traditional bank deposits, avoiding the additional risks that non-bank tokens can introduce, and preserving the singleness of money.

CBD’s participation follows continued growth of the CBMT network. The CBMT Sandbox launched in Frankfurt in November 2025, building on a 2024 proof of concept that described tokenized commercial bank money as a “transformative force” for on-chain payments using existing deposits.

In 2026, participants completed initial live multi-bank deposit token transfers with industrial corporates, and BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO and DNB joined the initiative, and DNB added the Norwegian krone alongside the euro, US dollar and Japanese yen. The Sandbox provides a collaborative test environment for participants to pilot institutional and corporate use cases across the full lifecycle of tokenised money flows, from issuance to enterprise payments and interbank settlement.

“Joining CBMT is a natural next step in CBD’s digital transformation strategy and our long-standing role in connecting the UAE businesses with international markets. As the first bank from outside Europe to participate, we bring the perspective of the Gulf’s banking and trade sector to a broader effort to modernise commercial bank money on a secure, regulated basis,” said Dr. Bernd van Linder, Chief Executive Officer, CBD.

“Corporate and institutional clients across the Gulf and Europe want cross-border payments that are near real-time, transparent, and anchored in the security of commercial bank money,” said Barbara Riccardi, Co-Head of Wholesale Banking at CBD. “By joining CBMT, we are not only connecting the Gulf’s vibrant trade ecosystem to a leading European tokenised money initiative, we are actively shaping the future of tokenised commercial finance from a regional perspective.”

“CBMT was initiated by the German banking industry together with corporate clients to bring commercial bank money onto digital rails, but the challenges it solves, including slow and costly cross-border corporate payments, are global,” said Claus George, Head of Digitalisation and Innovation TxB at DZ BANK AG, on behalf of the CBMT Working Group. He added that welcoming CBD as the first bank from outside Europe to join CBMT is an important step toward their vision of a multi-issuer, multi-currency, multi-chain ecosystem.

“CBMT was designed as a multi-issuer, multi-currency network from day one, and CBD shows that design working beyond Europe,” said Florian Becker, Managing Director APAC & GCC at GFT. “As a forward-looking innovator in digital currency and the first Middle East bank to join CBMT, CBD opens the network to a new region. As a technical service provider to the CBMT Sandbox, GFT and UDPN are proud to support this next phase of collaboration and help participating banks explore how tokenised commercial bank money can make cross-border corporate settlement faster, more transparent and more efficient.”

This announcement comes as European Union has launched Pontes.