The industry-owned network is still selecting a technology partner and would support tokenized deposits, stablecoins, smart payments and automated settlement.
Thirty-nine U.S. state bankers associations have formed BankChain Alliance, formalizing a bank-industry effort to build a common blockchain network for tokenized deposits, stablecoins, smart payments and automated settlement.
The alliance is targeting a 2027 launch but is not yet an operating payments network. Its Aug. 25 announcement said it is still selecting a technology partner and plans to make the network interoperable with other systems while inviting banks across the country to become owners.
BankChain describes the project as industry-owned, designed and governed. That structure is intended to give community and regional banks a stake in infrastructure that might otherwise be controlled by large banks, core-technology vendors or crypto companies.
The alliance says its 39 member associations represent 3,283 banks with $21.8 trillion in assets, based on Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. call-report data as of March 31. Its website cautions that the associations are the participants: their member banks have not individually committed to or joined the network unless separately indicated.
The roster covers associations in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Bank Ownership, but Funding Terms Remain Undisclosed
The alliance’s website lists a board chaired by Kathy Kraninger, president and CEO of the Florida Bankers Association. Other directors include leaders of the Ohio, Nebraska, Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah, New Hampshire and Massachusetts banking groups, as well as TekFactor founder Kim Askwith.
On funding, the public materials stop at ownership. The alliance says it will invite banks nationwide to become owners, while American Banker reported that the group wants an ownership stake in the technology partner it selects. Neither the announcement nor the alliance website specifies committed capital, member contributions or pricing.
The project has completed the first phase of its request for proposals, Kraninger told American Banker. Corey LeBlanc, co-founder and chief technology officer of Locality Bank, told the publication that compliance carried more weight than any other factor in the RFP.
Howard Headlee, president and CEO of the Utah Bankers Association, framed governance as the differentiator. BankChain is intended to give member banks “equal access to a network they own, where their voice is heard,” he told American Banker.
An Earlier-Stage Counterweight to The Clearing House
BankChain enters a field that already includes a bank-led tokenized-deposit initiative from The Clearing House. Unveiled in June, that project is designed to clear and settle tokenized commercial-bank money onchain and connect blockchain activity with the RTP and CHIPS payment networks.
The Clearing House is owned by 25 of the country’s largest financial institutions and says its existing networks clear and settle more than $2 trillion each day. Its announcement did not give an operational launch date.
BankChain has a broader stated product menu, including stablecoins and automated settlement, and a governance pitch built around state associations and banks of different sizes. It is also at an earlier stage: it must choose a technology provider and convert association-level sponsorship into commitments from individual banks before its 2027 target can be tested.
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