Money upgraded: Rethinking cash and liquidity management in the era of tokenised, programmable value

Abstract

Money is changing, both in its form and in how it moves. Tokenised deposits, stablecoins and programmable infrastructure are enabling 24/7 cross-border and cross-currency payments with profound implications for corporate treasuries of multinational organisations. This paper highlights how these instruments could augment treasury operations by enabling more dynamic, intelligent and real-time liquidity orchestration across time zones and legal entities. It introduces a framework in which stablecoins support mobility, tokenised deposits provide secure storage, and tokenised money market funds offer intraday yield, together transforming liquidity from static end-of-day positions into a continuous, programmable flow, orchestrated around business events rather than discrete settlement cut-offs. It then contrasts how the new capabilities could apply across treasury archetypes. For global business-to-business corporates, structured and forecastable flows benefit from 24/7 access to cross-border liquidity positioning. For global merchants, high-volume, consumer-driven flows align with stablecoin-based settlement and real-time liquidity consolidation across networks and jurisdictions. Five enablers for scaled adoption are discussed: regulatory clarity, redemption reliability, network interoperability, operational readiness and risk management. The paper concludes that tokenised money represents a new capability that, at scale, will require not only modern infrastructure but also a mindset shift and close collaboration between banks, corporates and regulators to ensure these instruments are deployed securely and deliver real economic value. This article is also included in the Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks/business.