GoCheckMyCrypto.com84% of financial firms now treat tokenization as strategic priority
A survey of 200 North American financial executives shows tokenization has moved from experimental to core business strategy. Nearly half of capital markets firms already have live tokenization initiatives, though regulatory uncertainty and integration complexity remain major obstacles.
Wall Street has moved past blockchain experimentation. According to a CoinDesk report on a Broadridge survey of 200 North American financial executives, 84% now consider tokenization a strategic priority, with 92% expecting digital and traditional assets to coexist indefinitely.
Tokenization represents the conversion of real-world assets (stocks, bonds, funds, real estate) into digital tokens on a blockchain. Proponents argue the mechanism can streamline settlement, lower operating costs, enable around-the-clock trading, and fractionate assets into smaller ownership stakes. Large financial institutions have largely focused on connecting blockchain networks to existing trading, custody and settlement infrastructure rather than replacing them outright.
Infrastructure buildout is already underway at scale. Among capital markets firms, 44% report tokenization initiatives in production or operating at scale, according to the survey. BlackRock's tokenized Treasury fund has grown into one of the largest blockchain-based investment funds. Franklin Templeton offers tokenized money market funds. JPMorgan has expanded blockchain-based settlement through its Kinexys platform. Visa and DTCC are building infrastructure to support tokenized payments and securities. On Wednesday, DTCC completed its first live production trades involving tokenized securities.
Investment commitments reflect the shift away from pilots. Nearly one-third of respondents plan to increase investment in tokenization projects by 26% to 50% or more over the next two years. About 68% said tokenization will at least partially reshape financial markets within the next three to five years. And 69% plan to integrate tokenization into existing infrastructure rather than build separate blockchain-native systems.
Expectations for asset class adoption are highest for funds and fixed income. About 80% of respondents believe tokenized mutual funds and money market funds will play a meaningful role within five years. About 50% expect tokenized equities to achieve similar meaningful adoption within the same window. But adoption remains highly uneven across sectors: only 20% of asset managers and 9% of wealth managers have live tokenization initiatives, compared to 44% among capital markets firms.
Two obstacles rank above all others. Regulatory uncertainty, reported by CoinDesk, is the most commonly cited challenge to tokenization adoption. Operational complexity of integrating blockchain technology into existing financial systems ranks second. Neither represents a technical barrier; both signal institutional friction points that no single firm can unilaterally solve.
84% of surveyed financial institutions now consider tokenization a strategic priority, with 92% expecting digital and traditional assets to coexist long-term.
Watch DTCC's live tokenized securities trading volume in the coming months; a sustained increase would validate institutional demand. The adoption gap between capital markets (44% live) and wealth management (9% live) suggests tokenization will remain a fragmented rollout unless regulatory clarity moves faster than operational integration timelines.
And that's the way it is.
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