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Commerce ConversationsAuthor: Commerce Ventures
What powers the brands and financial services we love to use? Commerce infrastructure, of course. The more consumers adopt digital products and demand fast, delightful experiences from their brands, the more this space grows. Commerce Conversations is a podcast from Commerce Ventures, where we dive into the most interesting emerging themes across retail tech and FinTech. Tune in for research deep dives, industry conversations, and intimate CEO interviews from our team. Language: en Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Why Banks Can't Afford to Wait on Tokenized Deposits, with Jon Briggs
Episode 45
Wednesday, 11 February, 2026
Payments are commoditized; the value is in what happens before and after the transaction. This insight drove KeyBank's entire fintech partnership strategy.Speed in banking is relative. Nine months from handshake to product launch was a standout result -- built on 10 years of trial and error refining processes.Organizational structure matters. Having payments leadership report directly to the CEO gave KeyBank the empowerment and alignment needed to move quickly.Stablecoins vs. tokenized deposits are not interchangeable terms. Conflating them is "intellectually sloppy" -- they have different structures, risk profiles, and use cases.Near-term use cases for tokenized money: interbank and intrabank settlement, cross-border payments, and B2B transactions.Consumer trust data: 75% would try stablecoins from a bank; under 4% comfortable with unregulated providers.FIS-Circle partnership integrates stablecoin as another "lane in the payments highway."Banks need to act now on tokenized deposits -- not because the technology is ready to deploy, but because the learning curve (risk frameworks, regulatory education, internal alignment) takes years.Spend management is a real threat -- platforms like Ramp function as de facto digital banking experiences for SMBs, and the old rebate-based competition model no longer works.Capital One/Brex is likely the largest capability-centered acquisition a bank has ever made, by a multiple of at least 5x.Build vs. buy: Most banks should not try to own large-scale technology companies. Capability acquisitions and well-structured partnerships are the better path.Keys to a successful fintech partnership: team alignment, holistic go-to-market planning, aligned incentives, and thoughtful servicing.Jon's 2026 prediction: By year-end, tokenized deposits will move beyond just the largest banks (JP Morgan, Citi, BNY) and the technology will start becoming more broadly adopted across the industry.
