Cosmos says bank tokenization is moving beyond pilots

Cosmos has launched a 17-company partner network as it prepares for a Wells Fargo tokenized-deposit rollout planned for fall 2026, according to its chief commercial officer.
Summary

• 17 qualified providers cover custody, compliance, security, infrastructure and systems integration.
• Wells Fargo plans to begin with a cross-border tokenized-deposit use case this fall.
• Banks must contract with providers separately and retain responsibility for compliance decisions.
• IBC supports ledger connectivity, while liquidity and policy standards still require industry agreement.

Cosmos Chief Commercial Officer Eran Barak told crypto.news that the Partner Network is designed to help banks move tokenization projects from trials into production without searching the open market for each service provider.

However, the network does not offer a pre-integrated system in which every participant operates under one technical and commercial agreement. Financial institutions must choose providers based on their needs, negotiate separate contracts, and determine how responsibility will be divided across the product.

"The Cosmos Tokenization Suite partner network is a qualified ecosystem, not a pre-wired integration marketplace," Barak said.

According to Barak, participating companies have tested their services against the Cosmos Tokenization Suite across the functions banks may need for a complete tokenization product. Services include custody, wallet management, know-your-customer and know-your-business checks, compliance monitoring, core banking connections, node operations, and interoperability between ledgers.

Banks can therefore choose firms that already understand the Cosmos technology rather than assessing providers without experience using the system, he added.

Commercial relationships will remain between each financial institution and the providers it selects. A bank's regulatory environment, existing technology, and current vendor relationships will influence which companies it hires, according to Barak.

"What the network removes is the discovery and qualification burden --- that work is already done," he said.

The Partner Network gives banks access to qualified providers, but it does not combine their services under one contract. Barak described the program as a vendor pool that can support different parts of a tokenized-deposit product.

Cosmos launched the network with 17 members, including BitGo, Blockchain.com, Blockdaemon, Galaxy Digital, OpenZeppelin, DFNS, and Hypernative. Other participants include Anseta, Balance, BCW Group, Coinbax, InfStones, Peersyst Technology, Silence Laboratories, Ubyx, Utila, and Zeeve.

Together, the companies offer custody, settlement, trading, transaction screening, wallet controls, smart-contract security, and blockchain infrastructure. Systems integrators within the group can also coordinate several providers for banks that do not want to manage each technical connection themselves.

Cosmos supplies the ledger and tokenization platform, while network members provide supporting products based on the bank's requirements. The Cosmos Tokenization Suite can support round-the-clock payment settlement, treasury management, programmable escrow, trade finance, and payments initiated by software agents, according to the company.

A financial institution may keep an existing custody provider while selecting another network member for compliance screening, node operations, or ledger integration. Each provider would remain responsible for the service covered by its agreement.

Accountability follows the contracts signed by the financial institution, Barak said. Cosmos is responsible for its digital ledger and tokenization technology under its agreement with the bank, while every partner remains responsible for its own service.

For example, a custody provider would handle matters involving access to assets, while a compliance company would be responsible for the accuracy of its screening product. Compliance decisions and regulatory liability remain with the bank regardless of the providers it selects, according to Barak.

Institutions seeking one contractor for the complete system can appoint a systems integrator. The integrator would serve as the primary contractor, with custody, compliance, or infrastructure providers working as subcontractors.

The model will receive its first named production test through Wells Fargo, Barak said. The U.S. bank is using Cosmos digital ledger technology to tokenize customer deposits, with an initial cross-border rollout planned for fall 2026.

Barak said the implementation is expected to add more clients, countries, currencies, and use cases through 2027. The rollout will place a regulated U.S. financial institution at the center of Cosmos' effort to move tokenized deposits beyond limited trials.

Tokenized deposits issued by different banks could remain divided across separate networks unless the institutions use compatible infrastructure and operating rules, Barak said.

Cosmos plans to address the technical part of that problem through the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol, or IBC. The open protocol allows assets to move directly between digital ledgers without relying on a central intermediary.

IBC has operated in production for more than five years and already connects public and permissioned networks, according to Barak. Supported systems include Cosmos-based networks, Besu chains, Ethereum, and Solana.

Ongoing work is expected to add Canton, Cori, Parriot, and other networks later in 2026, he added.

Although IBC provides a transport layer between ledgers, Barak said technical connectivity does not resolve differences in compliance rules, liquidity practices, or settlement finality.

"That technology alone doesn't solve fragmentation," he said. "Compliance standards, liquidity practices, and settlement finality also need industry alignment."

Under the model described by Barak, IBC provides the infrastructure for transferring assets and a neutral governance base for the protocol. Regulators and standards bodies would still need to establish common rules for the institutions and assets using those connections.

Cosmos plans to assess the Partner Network by measuring how quickly banks progress from a signed agreement to a live transaction, Barak said.

The company will also track the number of institutional users operating in production and transaction volume over time. Barak did not provide numerical targets for those measures or a date for publishing the first results.

Wells Fargo's initial cross-border implementation is planned for fall 2026, followed by the proposed expansion across additional clients, countries, currencies and use cases through 2027.