Keeta & LayerZero Partner to Enable On-Chain Tokenized Bank Deposits

Keeta will provide the compliance-friendly, high-volume Layer 1 infrastructure, and LayerZero will provide the cross-chain messaging infrastructure needed to operate it. Token issued on Keeta will be native across Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Keeta Network, rather than wrapped or represented by synthetic versions. Instead of remaining confined to a single network, regulated bank deposits can move natively across supported public blockchains using LayerZero’s interoperability infrastructure.

Essentially, it is designed to allow money to move wherever liquidity resides. The design removes the need for deposits to remain confined to one specific chain. Instead of having to unwind a transaction on a private interbank network first, treasury teams paying a supplier on, for example Solana will now be able to use that public chain directly.

Keeta Stablecoins are different from both algorithmic coins and stablecoins collateralized by pooled short-term debt like most of today’s largest reserve-backed coins (which are typically collateralized by a basket of commercial reserves and Treasury bills). Each Keeta coin directly corresponds to a real-world commercial bank deposit at one of partner banks held via Bivo. That distinction matters: when you hold a Keeta coin, you have a claim against a bank deposit, as opposed to a basket of money-market assets.

With LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard, issuers can deploy tokens across four blockchains while maintaining a single unified supply and full administrative control over the asset. Omnichain tokens are designed so that the issuing entity has admin control on all blockchains that the token can exist on. Therefore, KYC/AML compliance rules for example would be upheld across all chains.

• Commercial Bank Backing: Each token is backed 1:1 by a commercial bank deposit.
• Issuer Control: Issuers retain full control of the smart contract. No other party has admin rights.
• Fast Cross-Chain Transfers: Transactions are settled quickly enough to meet the needs of institutional treasuries.
• Multi-Currency Support: Support for multiple fiat tokens being issued. Initial tokens being issued are USD, EUR, JPY, CNY, GBP, CAD, MXN, AED, HKD.

Several banking consortiums are exploring tokenized deposit networks built on permissioned, private chains that are visible only to consortium members. Keeta- LayerZero flips that idea on its head by putting regulated deposits on public networks where a majority of digital-asset liquidity already resides. We break down the three models below across categories most important to institutions when transferring dollars.

Access is intentionally permissioned. KYC/AML checks are performed at the issuer level, and use is restricted at the token level, so institutional access to Keeta will look very different from the open retail use of a public stablecoin. The reserves are managed by Bivo, the U.S.-licensed fintech that actually holds the deposits.

There will be a trade-off. Sending bank funds to public chains expands accessibility. However, it also expands the attack surface from an operational risk standpoint. That exposure exists through smart-contract risk, cross-chain messaging infrastructure, potential reorganizations affecting settlement finality, counterparty risk in the deposit and reserve model itself, as well as even unclear legal risk of tokenized deposits from a jurisdictional perspective (risk that is not exactly settled law across nine different currency zones, by the way). Public rails help with liquidity and they don’t eliminate the need to evaluate these tiers.

Keeta is connected to real-time payment rails servicing nearly 200 countries worldwide. That’s why this initial nine currency launch is more than just a token gesture. Launching later this month, Keeta will connect key economic regions into one multi-chain liquidity network:

• U.S. and eurozone (USD, EUR),
• U.K. (GBP),
• Japan and China (JPY, CNY),
• Canada and Mexico (CAD, MXN),
• Gulf region and Hong Kong (AED, HKD).

The vision is one settlement layer where a corporation’s treasury can hold and make payments in both dollars, dirhams and Hong Kong dollars on four different chains – without maintaining four different infrastructures. As it stands now, that typically means four different banks and four different ledgers.

Executives from both companies are betting that when given the choice institutional capital will move over open, compliant rails instead of remaining on proprietary ledgers. Simon Baksys, chief business officer at LayerZero, said interoperability across chains is a requirement before regulated capital is allowed to access the networks holding liquidity today. Ty Schenk, CEO of Keeta, echoed this view, saying that deposits sponsored by banks need to have freedom of movement to be used for true settlement and not get stuck behind a walled garden.

If the platform proves capable of handling institutional-scale transaction volumes, it could establish a benchmark for enterprise treasury infrastructure: regulated deposits that settle in seconds on public blockchains without sacrificing issuer control. We will see if existing banking consortia feel the need to open up their own networks as a result, and just how loyal to the walled-garden approach they really are.