HSBC just made a major move—their tokenized deposit private chain standard is now fully compatible with Ethereum. That’s right, EVM-compatible and fully aligned with the ERC-20 standard.

Sound unremarkable? Wrong. The weight of this announcement outweighs all the tokenization news from the past half year combined.

Why do I say that?

Because it marks one thing: the traditional banking system is no longer trying to create its own standards from scratch, but instead is actively acknowledging—the crypto world has already won the standards battle.

Can you imagine what this means? What countless teams and projects in the crypto industry have spent over a decade failing to achieve is now being set in stone by a single statement from a traditional financial giant: the global standard for future assets will be the Ethereum ecosystem.

**HSBC is not just any bank—its choice represents a trend**

What level of player is HSBC? It’s a top-tier clearing bank, one of the most critical nodes in the global payment system. In cross-border trade, forex settlement, and the Asian dollar liquidity corridor—it’s a core player in all these areas.

Now, a bank of this caliber says: "Our tokenized deposit standard is aligned with Ethereum and ERC-20." This isn’t a minor technical tweak; it’s a shift in attitude. They’re saying: I recognize this system, I’m adopting it, I’m following it, and I’ll be doing more on-chain in the future.

Traditional finance has always been highly arrogant, but now they’re proactively stating “we want to align with the standards of the crypto industry.” My friend, this is the signal of a generational shift.

**What is ERC-20? It’s the internet protocol of the crypto world**

What does the ERC-20 standard mean? It means free circulation, interoperability, and cross-platform compatibility on-chain. Any wallet, exchange, or DeFi protocol that supports Ethereum can, in theory, directly connect to HSBC’s tokenized deposits.

This is no longer a closed banking system, but open financial infrastructure. When traditional finance starts speaking the “language” of the crypto industry, boundaries begin to blur. Asset tokenization is no longer just a hyped-up concept, but a concrete operational path.

The standards war is over. The next question is: how many more traditional institutions will follow suit?