Towards an era of secured asset liquidity: Tokenization will truly demonstrate its value for the first time with the "three trillion dollar movement"

Nasdaq’s rule change application submitted to the SEC in early September may superficially appear as a declaration of victory for cryptocurrencies. It is an attempt to enable trading of stocks and ETPs on the blockchain. However, upon closer examination, underlying challenges emerge.

What is truly valuable in a market that is already digitized

In fact, securities markets have been undergoing digital transformation for decades. When Wall Street experienced the “paper crisis” in the 1970s, buried under mountains of documents, the Depository Trust Company (DTC), established in 1973, offered a solution. Their approach was to store securities in vaults and replace physical certificates with electronic record-keeping.

Subsequently, the parent company of DTC, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has functioned as the backbone of the US financial markets, overseeing the clearing and settlement of nearly all securities transactions. Similarly, systems like London’s CREST, Europe’s Euroclear, and Japan’s JASDEC were built from the late 1980s to the 1990s.

In other words, today’s securities are already born digital, with ownership tracked, recorded, and settled within a centralized architecture. In this context, blockchain technology is less about innovating the assets themselves and more about providing a new way to record them.

Why tokenization alone is not enough

This raises an important question: Can tokenization move collateral assets more quickly? Seamlessly integrate interest-bearing assets with stablecoins? Achieve capital efficiency that traditional systems cannot?

The answer lies not in the technology itself but in its operational implementation. True progress involves not just ledger transformation but actual financial and operational improvements beyond current systems. The liquidity of collateral assets is at the core of this transformation.

The real opportunity shown by the $3 trillion reality

By 2024, the global bond market balance will reach $145.1 trillion. As of the end of September, government bonds alone amount to approximately $22.3 trillion—eight times the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies.

This enormous pool of assets is key. Collateral asset liquidity means the ability to quickly move and utilize assets between institutions. It is an essential concept for margin, liquidity, and risk management. If tokenization enables these assets to be transferred, reused, and moved programmatically on-chain, this capability can be significantly amplified without bottlenecks of traditional infrastructure.

Stablecoins backed by government bonds and interest-yielding cash equivalents (like USDC and Tether USDT) already serve as tools for banks to reduce settlement costs and accelerate transfers. EY’s recent report predicts stablecoins could account for 5-10% of global payments, representing a value of $2.1 trillion to $4.2 trillion.

Furthermore, the CFTC is considering recognizing stablecoins like USDC and USDT as collateral assets in the US derivatives markets. Approval would position stablecoins alongside government bonds and high-grade bonds as mainstream collateral assets, solidifying the infrastructure needed to mobilize and transform large-scale assets.

The era of infrastructure builders becoming winners

Looking ahead to 2026, banks and asset managers seem eager to pilot tokenized bonds and stablecoins using a limited set of high-quality investment opportunities within selective workflows. Stablecoins, especially in derivatives markets, could begin supplementing traditional cash for clearing and settlement.

By 2030, the landscape could change dramatically. Tokenized bonds, funds, and stablecoins are likely to become mainstream collateral assets across institutions. Tokenized government and corporate bonds could capture a significant share of liquidity and re-hypothecation markets. Full adoption of stablecoins by banks would enable faster, cheaper, and more transparent settlement.

In this environment, the winners will not merely be companies mastering tokenization but those mastering the infrastructure for transforming collateral assets. The ability to integrate, reuse, and move tokenized assets with stablecoins and traditional securities, along with operational adjustments in risk management, funding, and internalization, will define the next phase of financial markets.

Capital efficiency determines long-term competitiveness

Traders and market participants need to manage capital efficiently by seamlessly moving collateral assets between tokenized securities, bonds, and stablecoins. As digital collateral assets become more widely adopted, true mastery lies in building robust systems.

Capital efficiency is not just operational convenience; it provides firms with financial freedom, protection from sudden market shifts, and flexibility in strategic decision-making. When resources are deployed optimally, firms can offer better pricing, achieve higher margins, strengthen their market position, and outpace less efficient competitors in capital deployment.

The shift from technology to implementation

Nasdaq’s rule change application is a notable step in the ongoing digital evolution of financial markets. But we must not forget that securities are already digitized. Tokenization alone adds little innovation unless combined with systems that enable more efficient transformation, reuse, and movement of collateral assets.

The real impact will come from unlocking the flexibility and efficiency of large pools of assets like government bonds, corporate bonds, and private credit, and integrating them with emerging digital products like stablecoins. The future of finance is not just managing assets on a blockchain ledger but making them interchangeable, interoperable, and operationally usable across the entire financial system.

This is highly likely to become the next frontier of capital markets—a place where technology, risk management, and operational excellence converge. The push toward powerful capital efficiency is the quiet, essential heartbeat of every serious financial enterprise.