diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3d1a9249..8b42fdf5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ and this project adheres to
 
 - @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc: `CometClient` should be used instead of
   `TendermintClient`.
+- @cosmjs/stargate: Deprecate `SigningStargateClient.sendIbcTokens`. Please use
+  `signAndBroadcast` + `MsgTransferEncodeObject` instead. ([#1493])
+
+[#1493]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/1493
 
 ## [0.31.3] - 2023-10-25
 
diff --git a/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts b/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
index 7e5fe314..13e4461f 100644
--- a/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
+++ b/packages/stargate/src/signingstargateclient.ts
@@ -261,6 +261,12 @@ export class SigningStargateClient extends StargateClient {
     return this.signAndBroadcast(delegatorAddress, [withdrawMsg], fee, memo);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @deprecated This API does not support setting the memo field of `MsgTransfer` (only the transaction memo).
+   * We'll remove this method at some point because trying to wrap the various message types is a losing strategy.
+   * Please migrate to `signAndBroadcast` with an `MsgTransferEncodeObject` created in the caller code instead.
+   * @see https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/1493
+   */
   public async sendIbcTokens(
     senderAddress: string,
     recipientAddress: string,