Crypto copies banks, integrating tokenization into finance

The Major Moves Happening Now

The shifts are tangible and recent. Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, just expanded its digital asset strategy through a partnership with OKX to bring traditional capital markets products directly onto blockchain rails. The goal is straightforward: cut settlement costs and operational friction.

Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital asset bank, launched tokenized deposit infrastructure that lets banks offer round-the-clock settlement without rebuilding their entire backend. The platform provides custody and infrastructure for institutions managing blockchain assets within regulated frameworks, removing the need to choose between compliance and innovation.

Franklin Templeton moved even faster. The asset manager acquired 250 Digital, established Franklin Crypto as a dedicated division, and filed applications for two Bitcoin DRIP Index ETFs. This isn’t experimentation anymore. This is institutional capital betting on tokenization as foundational infrastructure.

Even smaller players are making moves. MoneyGram joined the Solana blockchain as a validator. MoonPay acquired Entendre, an AI accounting agent built for stablecoin firms. These aren’t isolated bets. They’re signals that financial workflows are being rebuilt on blockchains.

Products Now Compete, Not Institutions

What makes this shift fundamentally different is the competitive logic it creates. In traditional finance, you compete on the institution you work for. A bank’s savings account competes against another bank’s savings account. The institution provides custody, distribution, and legal structure.

Blockchain reorganizes this entirely. A tokenized Treasury fund now competes directly with a bank savings account, regardless of which institution issues it. A stablecoin becomes a competitor to remittance services. A blockchain custody platform can challenge a traditional securities custodian. The product stands alone. The institution becomes secondary.

This changes everything about market structure. Institutions no longer compete on being the only option in their category. They compete on whether their product is better, faster, or cheaper than any other product doing the same thing, whether it’s issued by a bank, a crypto firm, or a hybrid entity.

Regulators Are Playing Catch-Up

The Bank of England recently advanced its framework for systemic stablecoins and digital settlement assets. The SEC and CFTC are moving toward clearer crypto regulatory standards. But despite these efforts, caution still runs deep in the market.

A recent PYMNTS Intelligence report, titled Waiting for Certainty: Why Most CFOs Are Holding Back on Crypto and Stablecoins, shows most middle-market companies remain skeptical. Only 13% of firms currently use stablecoins. Just 5% use other cryptocurrencies. The regulatory uncertainty is real, and it’s slowing adoption.

The core challenge for regulators is figuring out what to regulate. Is it the institution? The product? The technology itself? Mike Katz, a partner in Manatt’s Financial Services Group, captured the problem well: It’s almost a full-time job to keep up with all the changes on the legislative front, on the regulatory front, on the technological front.

Regulators are no longer debating whether blockchain belongs in finance. That question has been answered. Now they’re racing to determine precisely where it fits within existing frameworks, how to tax it, and how to prevent the worst kinds of abuse without killing the infrastructure improvements it enables.