According to representatives of Franklin Templeton and BNP Paribas, enormous financial institutions are turning to tokenization to improve capital efficiency and liquidity.
Speaking on a panel at the WAIB Summit 2026 in Monaco, industry executives discussed how tokenized assets and stablecoins can modernize European capital markets by streamlining settlements, improving collateral mobility and creating recent opportunities for cross-border financial activity.
Tokenization gives institutions more “optionality and flexibility,” which is prompting interest from banks and enormous corporations in launching their own offerings, said Rafael Mastroberardino, director of digital asset partnership development at investment manager Franklin Templeton.
Julien Clausse, head of tokenization platform BNP Paribas CIB, said blockchain’s ability to host multiple assets on the same chain could unlock recent institutional apply cases, provided these assets can interact with each other.
Institutional interest in tokenization has increased in recent months. Some of the largest US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are reportedly planning to launch a tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027, seeking to keep deposits in regulated banking channels while offering the speed and programmability associated with blockchain-based assets.
Executives discuss stablecoins and tokenized assets during a panel at the WAIB Summit 2026 in Monaco. Photo: Cointelegraph
Wall Street is delving into tokenization
On March 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s pilot proposal to support trading in high-volume versions of tokenized stocks and securities.
A few days later, on March 24, the Recent York Stock Exchange partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to develop a blockchain-based trading infrastructure for Wall Street, including tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds.
Related: Hardware financing platform Trad.Fi will provide $650 million in private loans on the network
The initiative is part of parent company Intercontinental Exchange’s plans for a tokenized securities system featuring 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin financing and onchain settlement.
The sector has also attracted significant investment. On Thursday, Digital Asset Holdings raised $355 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm. The deal reportedly valued the company at around $2 billion. The capital will be used to expand Canton Network, a platform designed for financial institutions to tokenize and settle conventional securities while maintaining the privacy of sensitive data.
Canton has already been piloted by institutions such as Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Société Générale and Deutsche Börse.
Warehouse: Can Robinhood or Kraken tokenized stocks ever become truly decentralized?
