OSFI Clears Canadian Banks To Launch Blockchain Deposit Products In 2026 | OneBullEx

Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has confirmed that tokenized deposits carry the same legal status as traditional bank deposits, clearing a regulatory path for federally regulated financial institutions to build blockchain-based deposit products in 2026.

The clarification, issued in 2026, resolves a foundational legal question that had been holding back Canadian banks from developing on-chain deposit offerings. By treating tokenized deposits as functionally equivalent to conventional deposits, OSFI has signaled that federally regulated financial institutions can proceed with blockchain-based deposit products without needing a separate legal classification or bespoke regulatory regime.

The move positions Canada among the first major jurisdictions to explicitly address the legal treatment of tokenized deposits, a category distinct from stablecoins in that tokenized deposits represent claims on a regulated bank rather than on a private issuer.