Markets · TradFi
Wells Fargo Helps Form Bank Stablecoin Venture as Peers Talk Tokenized Deposits
Wells Fargo said on its third-quarter call that it is establishing a new company with 20 other international financial institutions to issue stablecoins beginning in the first half of 2027, while Citi said stablecoins are 'a bit more clunky' than tokenized deposits, according to call transcripts.
Wells Fargo said on its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that it is helping set up a company to issue stablecoins. "We, along with 20 other international financial institutions, are establishing a new company to issue stablecoins beginning in the first half of 2027," Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said in prepared remarks, according to a Quartr transcript published on Yahoo Finance (at 0:09:44 in the call). He said the product "will support wholesale, institutional, and retail use cases." He did not name the other institutions.
Scharf was cautious about demand at home. "Use cases in the U.S. for stablecoins remain unclear, but we're building solutions to be prepared as opportunities potentially unfold," he said, according to the transcript.
Wells Fargo already runs a deposit token. "Last month, we launched tokenized deposits on our proprietary blockchain platform, providing corporate and commercial clients with a new way to move money more efficiently," Scharf said.
Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo gave the first numbers on it. Asked by Bank of America analyst Ebrahim Poonawala to size the business, he said cross-border payments on the system are "getting from initiation to beneficiary account in two minutes or less," adding that it "is in production by the way, and it's small volume so far," per the transcript.
Scharf rejected the idea that AI agents will drain bank deposits. Asked by TD Cowen analyst Scott Siefers whether agents could move idle cash to higher-yielding accounts, he said "the idea that that's going to contribute to mass movement to higher-rate alternatives, I think is completely overdone, especially for the time period we can see."
Citigroup put tokenized deposits ahead of stablecoins. Chair and Chief Executive Jane Fraser cited "the launch of Citi Token Services in the U.A.E. and Japan" in her prepared remarks, according to a Quartr transcript of the call published on Yahoo Finance. Answering China Securities analyst Kunpeng Ma, Citi said the token service is "now operating in seven markets around the world" and added: "Stablecoin is a bit more clunky. There's more complexity in compliance, accounting, and tax for moving money around the world with it." The transcript does not label that answer by speaker. The same answer said that "with digital asset custody and our platform going live later this year," Citi will be "a one-stop shop in custody."
Citi also talked about agents inside the bank. Asked by Wells Fargo Securities analyst Mike Mayo whether Citi is an "AI victim or beneficiary," Fraser said "14,000 of our engineers use our main agentic coding tool, Devin," and "I am not worried about deposit flight risk in Services."
JPMorgan Chase took the agent question from the risk side. "We're not going to allow just any outside agent to come in inside the company because that's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan," a JPMorgan executive said on the call, according to a Quartr transcript published on Yahoo Finance, which does not name the speaker. Poonawala had asked about "the disruption risk" of agentic AI and "the emergence of all the rogue agents." The same answer said users "should understand there's a liability transfer."
JPMorgan's Smart Cash product is in a pilot. Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said it is "live now" and called it "very early days" and "a targeted pilot type thing," per the Quartr transcript. Asked by Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr about agent-driven deposit runs, he said: "I am just a little bit less persuaded that you really have cliff effects there." JPMorgan executives did not mention stablecoins, its JPMD deposit token or its Kinexys network in that transcript.
Goldman Sachs called tokenization important but small. Asked by Schorr about "tokenization, agentic trading, DeFi vaults, prediction markets," Chief Executive David Solomon said "tokenization is obviously an important trend" but "those activities are very small at this point," according to a Quartr transcript of that call published on Yahoo Finance.
The written results said far less than the calls. Le Coin found no mention of stablecoins, deposit tokens or tokenization in any of the four banks' releases or presentations, including Goldman's presentation, which mentions AI only in its forward-looking-statements caution. Wells Fargo's release names "artificial intelligence and digital assets" only in that same kind of caution, not as a risk factor.
Table 1. What the banks said on their calls, by bank and topic (Sources 1 to 12; Le Coin review, source 13. Calls checked 3:58 p.m. ET (Wells Fargo, Citigroup) and 4:05 p.m. ET (JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs).)
| Bank | Stablecoins | Tokenized deposits, tokenization | AI agents | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells Fargo | Scharf: new company "to issue stablecoins beginning in the first half of 2027"; U.S. use cases "remain unclear" | Scharf: launched "last month"; Santomassimo: "two minutes or less" | Scharf: mass deposit movement "completely overdone" | Quartr transcript (3) |
| Citigroup | Unlabeled Citi speaker: "a bit more clunky" | Fraser: Citi Token Services in U.A.E. and Japan; "seven markets" | Fraser: "agentic coding tool, Devin" | Quartr transcript (4) |
| JPMorgan | Nothing said | Nothing said | On the call, speaker not named: not "just any outside agent"; Barnum: Smart Cash "live now" | Quartr transcript (1) |
| Goldman Sachs | Nothing said | Solomon: "important trend," "very small" | Analyst named "agentic trading"; no direct answer | Quartr transcript (2) |
Fig. 1. What four big banks said about stablecoins, tokenized deposits, digital assets and AI agents on their third-quarter calls and in their written results. (Source: Quartr call transcripts via Yahoo Finance for Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs; company releases and presentations, Oct. 13, 2026; Le Coin review, source 13.)
None of the banks had posted an official transcript on its investor relations site as of 4:06 p.m. ET, so the quotes above come from third-party transcripts and have not been matched to the banks' webcasts.
The tell is the split. The two banks that raised digital money in their own prepared remarks, Wells Fargo and Citi, led with tokenized deposits on their own blockchains, and only Wells Fargo committed to a stablecoin, with a launch date more than a year out.
Sources
- JP Morgan Chase & Co. Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript, Quartr via Yahoo Finance (third-party call transcript), Oct. 13, 2026: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/JPM/earnings/JPM-Q3-2026-earnings_call-686357.html (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 4:05 p.m. ET)
- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript, Quartr via Yahoo Finance (third-party call transcript), Oct. 13, 2026: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GS/earnings/GS-Q3-2026-earnings_call-650784.html (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 4:05 p.m. ET)
- Wells Fargo & Company Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript, Quartr via Yahoo Finance (third-party call transcript), Oct. 13, 2026: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WFC/earnings/WFC-Q3-2026-earnings_call-650783.html (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 3:58 p.m. ET)
- Citigroup Inc. Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript, Quartr via Yahoo Finance (third-party call transcript), Oct. 13, 2026: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CITI.VI/earnings/CITI.VI-Q3-2026-earnings_call-650997.html (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 3:58 p.m. ET)
- JPMorgan Chase, 3Q26 Earnings Press Release (PDF): https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chase-and-co/investor-relations/documents/quarterly-earnings/2026/3rd-quarter/6c1f8114-1be4-4174-8292-f75bbb59bc21.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- JPMorgan Chase, 3Q26 Earnings Presentation (PDF): https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chase-and-co/investor-relations/documents/quarterly-earnings/2026/3rd-quarter/2b5b9a7e-a968-4985-94ad-5fa949a08d1c.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Wells Fargo, Third Quarter 2026 earnings release (PDF): https://www.wellsfargo.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/earnings/third-quarter-2026-earnings.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Wells Fargo, 3Q26 Financial Results presentation (PDF): https://www.wellsfargo.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/earnings/third-quarter-2026-financial-results.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Citigroup, Third Quarter 2026 Results and Key Metrics (PDF): https://www.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/storage/public/Earnings/Q32026/2026prqtr3rslt.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Citigroup, Earnings Results Presentation, Third Quarter 2026 (PDF): https://www.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/storage/public/Earnings/Q32026/2026psqtr3rslt.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Goldman Sachs, Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Results (PDF): https://www.goldmansachs.com/pressroom/press-releases/current/pdfs/2026-q3-results.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 10:24 a.m. ET)
- Goldman Sachs, 3Q26 Earnings Results Presentation (PDF): https://www.goldmansachs.com/pressroom/press-releases/current/pdfs/2026-q3-earnings-results-presentation.pdf (accessed Oct. 13, 2026, 3:59 p.m. ET)
- Table 1 and Fig. 1 data: Le Coin review of sources 1 to 12. Data file drafts/wip/markets-2026-10-13-bank-earnings-digital-assets.fig-1-data.v4.csv
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