Keith Grossman, president of crypto payments company MoonPay, said tokenization will reshape the financial industry faster than digital technology upends traditional media, including paper newspapers and physical music formats.
Grossman’s remarks, in part in the context of a larger industry conversation, highlight the growing belief among blockchain proponents that the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), the act of representing traditional financial instruments on public blockchains, is already reshaping the global financial landscape.
“Many feared that digitalization would destroy media, but what it actually did was force media to evolve,” Grossman said. saidadded that the tokenization of real-world assets, the process of representing traditional assets on-chain, will force traditional institutions to adapt. He added:
“This is no longer a hypothesis. BlackRock is offering tokenized funds. Franklin Templeton is running tokenized money market funds on public blockchains. Major world banks are piloting on-chain payments, tokenized deposits, and real-time asset movement.”
According to RWA.XYZ, the market capitalization of the RWA industry excluding stablecoins is approximately $19 billion. Financial giants such as Citi, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase remain. Still, they will do it in a different medium, just as media companies moved to digital media in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Grossman emphasized that as the world moves to a blockchain-powered global financial system, those who succeed in tokenized finance will adapt rather than resist.
Tokenization reduces costs and speeds payments
Tokenization of real assets has several advantages, including 24/7 access to cross-border markets, a wide range of trade sizes, lower transaction costs due to the removal of intermediaries, and settlement times of minutes instead of days.
Tokenized assets not only allow markets to remain agnostic and continue to operate, but also reduce the number of intermediaries and required intermediary complexity, thereby reducing transaction costs and settlement times from days to just minutes. For institutional investors, this effectively reduces counterparty risk and improves capital efficiency.
In September, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a joint statement supporting a 24/7 capital markets regulatory regime.
Tokenization transforms markets amid regulatory challenges
While regulatory support is increasing, tokenized finance must navigate a complex legal framework to ensure success. Businesses will need strong cybersecurity measures to protect their assets and ensure compliance with global securities laws.
According to RWA.XYZ, the majority of tokenized RWA value is currently floating on Ethereum. The move to 24/7 trading is in stark contrast to traditional markets, which are closed at night, on weekends, and on holidays.
Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which processed approximately $37 trillion in payments in 2024, received approval from the SEC to begin offering tokenized financial products in December. It is also expected that DTCC will begin trading tokenized assets such as US Treasuries and stock indexes in the second half of 2026.
Ultimately, tokenization has the potential to create a more efficient, inclusive, and transparent financial system. Institutions that embrace these changes early may gain a competitive advantage, while those that resist blockchain innovation risk falling behind.