FIS and leading financial institutions to build their own digital tokenized money network

FIS and six U.S. banks will launch Project Keystone, a bank-owned and bank-administered network for digital money to be built on regulated deposits. The initiative will give participating banks direct control over how digital money is issued, transferred, and settled, without ceding that infrastructure to third parties.

 FIS®, a global leader in financial technology, announced Project Keystone – a network for digital money to be designed and controlled by banks. „Developed with six U.S. financial institutions, Project Keystone will enable participating banks to issue, transfer, and settle regulated deposits in digital form, on shared infrastructure they administer themselves.” – according to the press release.

Participating banks include Citizens, Fifth Third, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, and M&T Bank. This group represents different charter types and technology providers, reflecting the breadth of institutions for which Project Keystone is designed to operate.

„The network will handle real bank deposits in digital form – meaning the money moving through Project Keystone will be regulated and bank-issued – not a new asset class. Transactions will either settle completely or not settle at all, eliminating the partial failures and reconciliation burdens that slow conventional interbank settlement today.” – the company explained.

„Banks are the cornerstone of trust in the financial system, and they should define how digital money evolves,” said Jim Johnson, Co-President of Banking Solutions at FIS. „The digital money space has no shortage of technology looking for adoption. What it has lacked is banks moving together with shared administration and infrastructure among financial institutions. Project Keystone brings together institutions of different sizes, charters, and core providers – because a network that doesn’t work for all of them doesn’t work.”

Also, FIS has announced Lyriq™, a proprietary platform purpose-built for regulated financial institutions, with compliance, access controls, and auditability built into the core infrastructure.

The platform is production-ready and entering limited availability, proven through seven digital currency proof-of-concepts with financial institutions globally, making it one of the most tested bank-centric digital currency platforms today.

Lyriq keeps tokenized deposits, stablecoins and other digital assets on issuing bank balance sheets, integrates with existing core banking systems regardless of provider, and enables 24/7 settlement with transactions that complete fully or fail cleanly.