Vantage and Rio Bank completed the first tokenized deposit loan participation payment

Vantage Bank and Rio Bank completed principal and interest payments for loan participants using the loan service platform Participate, utilizing tokenized deposits from Hazel Network. Participate stated that after Vantage submitted the payment, the platform completed the distribution of principal and interest, with tokenized deposits reaching the recipient's digital wallet in less than 3 minutes. The loan balance and payment notifications were automatically updated in sync, connecting the traditional processes that relied on wire transfers, spreadsheets, and email notifications. This payment was announced on October 19.

This payment marks the first implementation of the collaboration between the two banks that began in April this year. Custodia CEO Caitlin Long confirmed that the transaction occurred on the Ethereum mainnet. Hazel was jointly developed by Vantage and Custodia: Participate (a subsidiary of BankLabs) provides loan workflows and payment instructions, Vantage offers banking services and reserves, and Custodia is responsible for wallets, blockchain operations, compliance, and reconciliation monitoring.

According to the Hazel white paper, this settlement model includes both on-chain and traditional bank ledger records, with transactions permitted only for authorized participants, while customer identities and account information are kept off-chain. Participate plans to offer tokenized deposits and Fedwire payment automation services to 750 banks for loan participation and syndicate payments.