UK's Monument Bank Plans to Tokenize £250M of Retail Deposits on Cardano's Midnight Network

Monument Bank, a Bank of England-regulated lender, is preparing to tokenize £250 million of retail customer deposits on Cardano's privacy-focused Midnight blockchain. The move would make Monument the first UK-regulated bank to place tokenized retail deposits on a public blockchain. The bank said the deposits will remain interest-bearing, fully backed in GBP, redeemable on demand, and covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Midnight is positioned as a privacy-first sidechain within the Cardano ecosystem, built around zero-knowledge proof technology designed to keep transaction details visible only to the bank and its customers while maintaining auditability. Ahead of the network's rollout, Midnight introduced its native tokens, DUST and NIGHT, including distribution tied to the Glacier airdrop. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson described the Monument agreement as "one of the largest deals we've ever done," and said it could add hundreds of millions to billions in total value locked (TVL) to Midnight over time. Monument's affiliate also plans to extend the same tokenized deposit rails to other banks through a Banking-as-a-Service offering.