Why tokenized bonds, not stocks, are drawing real institutional money

Tokenizing stocks sounds exciting. Tokenizing bonds sounds dull. The dull option is the one attracting real institutional capital.

Andy Baehr, managing director of asset management at GSR, described mass equity tokenization as “exciting” in a recent discussion. The more interesting part of his commentary, he said, points to where tokenization is already proving its value: fixed income instruments and their role as collateral in institutional trading.

HSBC’s Orion platform has crossed $3.5 billion in cumulative tokenized bond issuances. Goldman Sachs’ GS DAP platform has exceeded $700 million in tokenized fixed income instruments. Neither is a pilot or a proof-of-concept. Both are live infrastructure processing real capital.

The reason bonds lead equities in tokenization comes down to valuation clarity. Bonds have well-defined cash flows, maturity dates, and credit ratings. That makes them easier to price, easier to custody on-chain, and easier to accept as collateral.

Research published by the DTCC on May 13, 2026 reinforced the point. It found that tokenized traditional assets can improve collateral mobility and reduce capital requirements. A tokenized Treasury bond can be transferred between counterparties in minutes rather than days. Firms can post exactly what is needed, when it is needed, and redeploy freed-up capital into other positions. The DTCC research specifically highlighted reduced capital requirements as an operational advantage – the kind of bottom-line improvement that gets CFOs to return phone calls.

Baehr joined GSR as managing director of asset management in February 2026, bringing experience from roles at CoinDesk Indices and digital asset strategies. His arrival coincided with GSR’s broader push into asset management, a notable shift for a firm historically known as a crypto market maker and trading firm.

That push materialized in April 2026 when GSR launched BESO, its first actively managed multi-asset crypto ETF. The fund holds Bitcoin and Ethereum; Solana is also in the portfolio. It positions itself as a diversified entry point for institutional allocators who want crypto exposure without picking individual tokens.

The institutional infrastructure being built by HSBC and Goldman Sachs, along with the DTCC’s research, creates the plumbing that asset managers will eventually use to construct hybrid portfolios spanning both digital-native and tokenized traditional assets.

GSR launched BESO in April 2026, its first actively managed multi-asset crypto ETF.