Vivek Raman and the Tokenization Revolution: How to Rewrite Institutional Capital Markets in 2026

The crypto market at the beginning of 2026 presents a divergent picture – regulatory policies are moving significantly differently across the globe. While South Korea gradually eases restrictions on corporate crypto investment and Electronic Brokers (IBKR) launches 24-hour stablecoin recharges, policies in the United States and the United Kingdom are tightening. Behind these signals, a larger shift is being born: the structure of the capital market itself is facing a deep reshaping.

It is against this backdrop that industry insiders such as David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, Andy Baehr, Head of Product and Research at CoinDesk Indices, and Vivek Raman, thought leader of the Ethereum ecosystem, all share the same view that 2026 will be a tipping point for the integration of crypto and traditional finance.

Global regulatory divergence: Adoption acceleration and policy dilemmas coexist

The crypto industry has witnessed significant regulatory polarization this week. South Korean regulators have lifted a nearly decade-long ban on corporate crypto investments, now allowing listed companies to allocate no more than 5% of their own capital to digital assets, but limited to mainstream currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. During the same period, Interactive Brokers, a global e-brokerage giant, opened up a USDC-based round-the-clock account top-up feature, with plans to support Ripple’s RLUSD and PayPal’s PYUSD later.

However, in the United States, the important CLARITY crypto bill has encountered significant obstacles in the Senate Banking Committee, and the crux lies in the distribution of stablecoin revenues - the core conflict between traditional banks and non-bank stablecoin issuers. Meanwhile, British MPs are pushing for a ban on donating crypto assets to political parties, citing protection against foreign interference.

The superficial significance of these news lies in mixed progress, but the deeper meaning is even more important: global institutional investors are facing an inescapable reality - either build the ability to deal with 24-hour markets or risk being marginalized.

The 2026 Tipping Point in David Mercer’s Eyes: How Tokenization Breaks Market Time Boundaries

The CEO of LMAX Group believes that the current capital market is still operating a century-old architecture: price discovery based on trading hours, batch clearing and static collateral. This system is failing.

Tokenization + settlement cycle compression, this is the key variable. When transactions are compressed from T+2 and T+1 (completed one or two days after the transaction) to second-level settlement, the traditional “allocate assets in advance” model becomes a deadly capital efficiency black hole. Institutions freeze funds for next week’s transactions today, but in the tokenized world, these funds can be settled and redistributed in a second.

According to a joint study by Ripple and BCG, the global tokenized asset market is expected to reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of 53%. This is not a hype number – it is an inevitable extension of historical trends. In the past 30 years, electronic trading, algorithmic execution, and real-time clearing have gradually reduced market friction. Tokenization is the next stop on this trajectory.

Mercer believes that a more aggressive prediction is that tokenized assets will eventually account for 80% of global assets. It sounds extreme, but look at the popularity curve of mobile phones and air travel to get it right – S-shaped growth is not linear, but exponential.

From an institutional perspective, the real game change is this: collateral fungibility + settlement in seconds = continuous portfolio rebalancing. Stocks, bonds, and digital assets are no longer fragmented markets, but a distribution engine that never closes. The concept of weekends and holidays disappeared. Trading venues are no longer closed, but are only constantly rebalanced.

The role of stablecoins and tokenized money markets is crucial – they become hubs connecting various asset classes, enabling the immediate flow of funds. This, in turn, deepens liquidity, reduces settlement risks, and accelerates capital turnover.

Institutional Operational Dilemmas and “Readiness Requirements” in 2026

What does this shift mean for institutions?

The first is the urgency of capacity building. In 2026, institutions that can continuously manage liquidity and risk will have access to capital flows that other institutions cannot access. Risk management, finance, and settlement teams must move from discrete batch cycles to continuous processes: round-the-clock collateral management, real-time AML/KYC, integration with digital asset custodians, and native acceptance of stablecoins as settlement tools.

At the infrastructure level, formal custodians and credit intermediary solutions are moving from concept to production. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the Depository Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to develop a securities tokenization program that uses blockchain to record ownership of stocks, ETFs, and Treasury bonds. This shows that regulators are taking this integration seriously.

Andy Baehr on 2026: How the Crypto Market Can Avoid the “Second Year Syndrome”

Andy Baehr, head of CoinDesk Indices, uses the metaphor of college freshmen to interpret the stages of the crypto market. 2025 is the “first academic year” – a place full of anticipation to enter the palace of higher education, experiencing a record high of post-election euphoria and inauguration ceremonies.

But like any ambitious freshman, the first semester quickly took a hard hit. The decline triggered by the tariff turmoil pushed Bitcoin below 80,000 and Ethereum fell nearly $1,500. Although the market regained momentum and launched highlights such as the Circl IPO, the automatic deleveraging in the fourth semester triggered a crisis of confidence - which became a “midterm exam failure”. Recovery never really happened.

2026 is the “second school year”. The key to the year is not price, but capital construction.

Andy identified three priorities:Regulation and Control Act- The CLARITY Act is facing serious obstacles, but compromise is necessary;Distributed channel construction- Crypto assets must go to retail, high-net-worth, funds, and institutional investors, not just proprietary traders.Quality focus— The CoinDesk 20 Index (Top 20 Digital Assets) performance relative to the CoinDesk 80 average shows that large, high-quality digital assets will continue to dominate, which just provides room for diversification and new investment themes.

The second school year may seem complicated and unforgiving, but it can also be a highly productive and successful year. The opportunity for the crypto market this year is to “find a way” and start making more meaningful contributions to multi-asset portfolios, global markets, and risk management.

Technical Signals: Bitcoin’s New Correlation with Gold

An interesting phenomenon emerged this week. When gold hit a new all-time high, Bitcoin’s 30-day moving correlation turned positive for the first time in 2026, reaching 0.40. This breaks the pattern of the past.

However, from a technical perspective, BTC is still under pressure. The current price is $84.14 (down 5.55%), failing to reclaim above the 50-week exponential moving average. The weekly decline was 1%.

The key question is: Can gold’s continued upward trend provide medium-term support for Bitcoin, or will BTC’s continued weakness confirm its “deleveraging” process with traditional safe-haven assets?

Vivek Raman’s 2026 outlook with industry leaders

In a recent discussion, Vivek Raman, a thinker in the Ethereum ecosystem, emphasized that in 2026, we need to focus not only on price but also on the deepening of applications. He discussed Ethereum’s potential path to $15,000 within the year with Danny Ryan and others on the Etherealize podcast, based on the assumption of accelerated network adoption and ecological maturity.

Meanwhile, data from Ethereum shows a noticeable increase in new addresses’ interactions with the network, signaling a rise in participation.

The upcoming Consensus conference in Miami will bring together industry leaders such as Paul Atkins, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Novogratz, and others who will discuss the institutionalization path of the crypto market in depth. This is not a simple industry conference, but a conversation about the future of financial architecture.

In addition, NFT-native brands like Pudgy Penguins are evolving. Transform from speculative “digital luxury” to multi-vertical consumer IP platforms – acquiring users through toys, retail collaborations, and virality, and then incorporating them into Web3 through gaming and PENGU tokens. The ecosystem has achieved more than $13 million in retail sales, more than 1 million product sales, and more than 500,000 downloads of the Pudgy Party game in two weeks. This shows that the industry has moved from a transactional-only paradigm to an application and brand-building paradigm.

Conclusion: Preparation is the real competition in 2026

In summary, the question in 2026 is no longer “will the market run 24 hours a day”, but “can your organization do this”. Institutions that have already begun to build operational capabilities for uninterrupted markets – such as the infrastructure that David Mercer’s LMAX Group is advancing – will be in a good position to respond quickly to regulatory certainties.

Industry thinkers like Vivek Raman and Andy Baehr are sending the same signal: this is not a year of speculation, but a year of construction. Tokenization is no longer a theory, infrastructure is no longer a blueprint, and institutional readiness is no longer an option.

2026 will belong to those who start preparing now.