A Broadridge survey finds 84% of financial institutions see tokenization as important. DTCC completes first live tokenized trades. CEX spot volumes rose 15.3% in June. Regulatory uncertainty remains the top obstacle.
Tokenization has become a strategic priority for 84% of financial institutions, according to a new survey from financial technology provider Broadridge. The poll of 200 North American financial services executives found the industry is moving past experimentation and starting to prepare for a future where tokenized assets are part of everyday market infrastructure.
Tokenization represents ownership of real-world assets – stocks, bonds, funds or real estate – as digital tokens on a blockchain. Proponents say it can shorten settlement times, lower costs and let assets trade around the clock while making them easier to split into smaller stakes.
Interest has accelerated over the past two years as large institutions launched tokenization initiatives. BlackRock's tokenized Treasury fund has grown into one of the largest blockchain-based investment funds. Franklin Templeton offers tokenized money market funds. JPMorgan expanded blockchain-based settlement through its Kinexys platform. Firms including Visa and DTCC are building infrastructure to support tokenized payments and securities.
On Wednesday, DTCC completed its first live production trades involving tokenized securities, a milestone for bringing blockchain into traditional markets.
Broadridge's findings suggest those efforts are influencing the broader industry. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said tokenization will at least partially reshape financial markets within three to five years. Nearly one-third plan to increase investment in tokenization projects by 26% to 50% or more over the next two years.
The survey also found firms are not preparing for an all-onchain future. Ninety-two percent expect digital and traditional assets to coexist for the foreseeable future. Sixty-nine percent plan to integrate tokenization into existing infrastructure rather than build separate blockchain-native systems. That mirrors the approach taken by many large financial institutions, which have focused on connecting blockchain networks to existing trading, custody and settlement systems instead of replacing them.
Adoption remains uneven. Forty-four percent of capital markets firms said they already have tokenization initiatives in production or operating at scale. That compares with 20% of asset managers and 9% of wealth managers.
The survey pointed to where firms expect tokenization to gain traction first. About 80% of respondents believe tokenized mutual funds and money market funds will play a meaningful role within five years, reflecting the rapid growth of tokenized Treasury products. By contrast, only about half expect tokenized equities to achieve similar adoption over that period.
Despite the growing enthusiasm, firms continue to face obstacles. Regulatory uncertainty ranked as the most commonly cited challenge. Operational complexity of integrating blockchain into existing financial systems followed.
Data from AlphaScala shows centralized exchange trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June. Spot volumes climbed 15.3% to $1.11 trillion. Real-world asset perpetual volumes surged to a record $311 billion.
Regulatory uncertainty ranked as the most commonly cited challenge, followed by operational complexity.
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