Payments that execute or release automatically when coded conditions are met, e.g. escrow-style locked funds or rule-based treasury sweeps.
Announced2Proof of concept1Pilot7Live (limited)5Live (scaled)1Inactive1
Why tokenise?
Draft analysis · not yet reviewed by the editor · updated 12 Oct 2026. The flows below are simplified for general understanding. Real implementations vary a great deal and are often far more complex.
Many payments only happen once something else has happened: goods arrive, a house sale completes, an account runs low. Today a person checks the condition and then sends the money. With tokenised money the rule can travel with the payment, so it is released automatically the moment the condition is met, at any hour. A handful of banks run this for corporate treasuries today; pay-on-delivery for everyday commerce is still at pilot stage.
New capabilityStanding orders and bank sweeps already exist, so simple rules are not new. What is new is attaching the condition to the money itself on a shared ledger, so a payment can wait for an event outside the bank (a delivery, a completion, a data feed) and settle instantly when it happens, without an escrow agent or a person checking. What is live: corporate treasury rules on J.P. Morgan's Kinexys (Siemens since 2023, BMW and Mitsubishi since) and DBS's conditional payments in Singapore. What is piloted: the UK banks' tokenised sterling payments that release on completion or delivery. What is promised: escrow-style card and checkout payments (Shopify's USDC escrow contract is live but no volumes are published) and bank tokens on Visa's platform, still in sandbox.
The problem today
Conditions on payments are usually checked by hand. Someone has to see that goods arrived, a margin call is due or an account is short, then instruct the payment in a separate system.[1]
Because treasury systems rely on next-day processing, manual monitoring and forecasts, companies hold extra cash as a buffer over weekends, bank holidays and overnight, when they cannot act.[2]
New business models such as pay-per-use and subscriptions create many more, much smaller payments, which are too numerous to approve by hand.[2]
Remortgage completions rely on manual checks and suffer settlement delays, and buying from a private seller online carries the risk of paying and not receiving the goods.[3]
Today vs tokenised (simplified)
End to end:hours to days after the condition is met→seconds after the condition is met · The time to confirm the condition itself (a delivery, a completion) does not change.
Todayend to end: hours to days after the condition is met
Buyer or treasury teamAgrees the condition for payment, often outside any system (in a contract or in someone's head)ongoing
Buyer or treasury teamWatches for the condition, such as delivery, completion or a low balance, and checks it by handhours to daysremoved
Escrow agent, solicitor or marketplaceHolds the money in a separate account until both sides confirmdaysremoved
Buyer's bankReceives the instruction and sends the payment, subject to cut-off times and business dayshours to next business day
Both sidesReconcile the payment against the contract, invoice or delivery recorddaysremoved
Tokenisedend to end: seconds after the condition is met
Buyer or treasury teamSets the rule once, for example "pay when the goods are confirmed" or "top up this account below a set level"minutes, once
Shared ledgerLocks the money against the rule; the payer may still earn interest on itseconds
Data source or counterpartyConfirms the condition, such as delivery, completion or a balance checkwhen it happens
Shared ledgerReleases the payment automatically and records it, at any hourseconds
Treasury rules and conditional releases run without a person checking and instructing each payment. BMW and Mitsubishi set rules in advance on Kinexys; DBS lets a grant-giving agency attach conditions to money paid out through an intermediary; UK banks released mortgage and marketplace payments automatically on completion or delivery.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Needs smart contracts
DBS Token Services: DBS's Conditional Payments service grew out of a grant disbursement pilot with Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association, in which the agency set conditions on funds paid out through its appointed intermediary, giving it more control over how the money was used. DBS plans to extend this to milestone-based and intermediated payments. No pilot size or results are published.[5]
Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) pilot: In the UK banks' tokenised sterling pilot, customer money for two remortgage completions was locked in the account and released automatically at completion, and in one marketplace sale the buyer's money was released only when the goods changed hands. UK Finance says this cuts manual checks and settlement delays and lets mortgage customers keep earning interest until completion. Three live transactions; no values or timings published.[3]
Kinexys Digital Payments (blockchain deposit accounts): BMW's German and US treasury teams set rules in advance, and when those conditions were met the network checked balances, topped up accounts and converted euros to dollars between Frankfurt and New York automatically, which J.P. Morgan calls the first fully pre-programmed FX transaction on the service. No amounts were disclosed.[4]
A rule can fire in the evening or at a weekend, not just when the bank and the treasury team are at work. BMW's pre-programmed currency transfer ran outside normal settlement windows, and Mitsubishi's subsidiaries can set rules that move dollars between Singapore, London and New York 24/7, free of bank cut-off times and holidays.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Needs cash on the ledgerNeeds counterparties on the ledger
DBS Token Services: DBS says its Treasury Tokens service, piloted with Ant International and in use for Ant's ongoing intra-group transfers, lets large companies settle multi-currency transfers between their own entities instantly at any hour, without currency cut-off times or bank closing hours. No timings or volumes are published; the claim is the bank's own.[5]
Kinexys Digital Payments (blockchain deposit accounts): BMW moved money from euros in Frankfurt to dollars in New York between its own Kinexys accounts outside traditional settlement windows and without manual intervention; J.P. Morgan describes the FX settlement as running 24/7/365. No timings or amounts were disclosed.[4]
Pay-on-delivery between strangers, milestone payments and many tiny pay-per-use charges become practical when the money can wait for the condition and move instantly. Shown in three UK pilot transactions and built into Shopify's USDC checkout, but no volumes have been published.
Theory · high confidenceMeaningfulAs networks grow
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds smart contracts
When money is locked and released only on delivery, the buyer is not exposed to a seller who never delivers, and the seller can see the money is there. UK Finance cites lower fraud and transaction risk. This is the escrow idea, built into the payment.
Theory · high confidenceMarginalAs networks grow
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledger
Fewer manual checks, fewer escrow arrangements and less reconciliation should cut the cost of conditional payments. No operator has published cost savings.
Theory · low confidenceMarginalAs networks grow
Needs counterparties on the ledger
Where it is now
17 tracked deployments, 6 live. 2 of 5 benefits evidenced in production.
Announced2Proof of concept1Pilot7Live (limited)5Live (scaled)1Inactive1
The full potential
Today programmable payments are a treasury tool inside single banks: a company sets rules on its own accounts and the bank's ledger carries them out. The larger promise, payments that release themselves on delivery, completion or a data feed between any two parties, needs the payer and payee on the same or linked ledgers, trusted ways to confirm real-world events, and legal certainty that an automated release is final.
Both sides holding tokenised money on the same or connected ledgers; today rules mostly work only between accounts at one bank
Trusted sources that confirm real-world events, such as delivery or a Land Registry update, to the ledger
Legal clarity that automatically released payments are final and enforceable, and clear liability when code goes wrong
Common standards so a rule set at one bank works at another
Who it suits
Non-financial company, Bank, Fintech or technology firm · effort: medium · one firm can get value on its own
Corporates can start with rules on their own accounts at a bank that offers them (J.P. Morgan, DBS)
Commerce uses need the buyer, the seller and their banks on the same network
Governance of the rules themselves: who can set, change and audit them
Limits and open questions
Mostly closed loops. J.P. Morgan's programmable features work only for accounts on its own system; a payment to someone at another bank falls back on ordinary rails.[1]
The code becomes a new risk to govern, and whether an automated action is legally enforceable is still being tested.[7]
Evidence is thin. The UK retail pilot was three transactions; Shopify's escrow contract and Visa's bank token platform have no published volumes, and Visa's remains in sandbox in the sources found.[3]
Speed for the payer is not always speed for the payee. Shopify's escrow contract handles authorisation, later capture and refunds in USDC, but by default merchants are paid in local currency on Shopify's usual payout schedule.[8]
A rule is only as good as the information it acts on. Confirming that goods arrived or a sale completed still depends on a trusted party or data feed outside the ledger.[7]