RWA Tokenization Is Already Disrupting Finance By 2026: Crypto Exec
Tokenization will transform the financial industry faster than digital technology has disrupted legacy media, such as print newspapers, physical copies of music and other analog formats, said Keith Grossman, president of crypto payments company Moonpay.
“While many fear that digitization will destroy media, what it has done is force evolution,” said Grossman, adding that real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, the process of representing traditional assets onchain, forces them to adapt to traditional institutions. He added:
“This is no longer hypothetical. BlackRock is offering tokenized funds. Franklin Templeton is running a money market fund on public blockchains. Major international banks are experimenting with onchain settlement, token deposits and real-time asset movements.”
Financial incumbents like Citi, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and others will continue to exist, Grossman said, as did media companies after the shift to digital distribution in the late 1990s and early 2000s, upending decades-old business models.
Ultimately, the survivors and winners of the ongoing transition to tokenized finance will be the companies that get ahead of the change, not those trying to stop the inevitable transition to a global financial system powered by blockchain railroads, he said.
Related: Wall Street's $4 Quadrillion Backbone Coined U.S. Treasuries
Why marked properties can change the game.
Promoting real-world properties holds many advantages, including enabling 24/7 market access, internationalization of property standards, lower transaction costs by fractionation and settlement times down to minutes.
In September, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a joint statement to create a regulatory framework to enable 24/7 capital markets.
The financial system's move to 24/7 trading represents a major departure from how traditional markets, which are closed at night, on weekends and on holidays, operate.
In the year Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a settlement and clearing company that has settled about $3.7 quadrillion by 2024, will receive approval from the SEC to begin offering tokenized financial instruments.
DTCC plans to release tokenized assets in the second half of 2026, starting with US Treasuries and stock indices.
Magazine: Unstable Coins: Devaluation, Bankruptcy and Other Risks Ahead.
