The Fundamental Reason Behind Capital Market Changes: 2026 Will Be the Year of Tokenization and 24/7 Operations

For nearly a century, global capital markets operated on a fixed premise: price discovery driven by limited access, settlement in periodic batches, and collateral trapped in settlement cycles. But the premise is now starting to crack. With the acceleration of blockchain tokenization and settlement cycles decreasing from days to seconds, 2026 marks a turning point where global market infrastructure is poised to transform from a closed model to a sustainable 24/7 operation. It’s not speculation — industry data suggests that it’s no longer a question of whether a transformation will happen, but rather when and how quickly.

David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, who has led the e-commerce infrastructure for two decades, sees this momentum as a fundamental reason why structural changes are inevitable: “The main reason is capital efficiency. Today, when institutions look to enter a new asset class, they face onboarding hurdles that take five to seven days, including collateral placement and compliance with regulatory requirements. It locks the capital in T+2 and T+1 settlement cycles (transactions are completed a day or two later). Tokenization removes those barriers altogether.”

Tokenization Removes Operational Barriers, Unlocks Capital Efficiency 24/7

The logic behind this transformation is simple yet powerful. When collateral becomes fungible and settlement occurs in seconds instead of days, institutions can reallocate portfolios continuously without the need to wait for the weekend or official trading hours to end. Stocks, bonds, and digital assets are interchangeable components in an always-on capital allocation strategy. As stablecoins like USDC, RLUSD (owned by Ripple), and PYUSD (owned by PayPal) become functional and seamless settlement instruments, capital previously trapped in legacy settlement cycles will be unlocked.

With this opening, liquidity expanded dramatically. The order book is deepening, trading volumes are increasing, and the speed of turnover of both digital and fiat assets increases as settlement risk decreases. Industry projections (Ripple and BCG) show that the tokenized asset market will reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 53%. But Mercer believes the long-term potential is much greater: “With an adoption curve similar to the mobile phone revolution and air travel, it’s possible that up to 80% of the world’s assets will be tokenized by 2040.”

Infrastructure has begun to take shape. Regulatory certainty was obtained when the SEC granted permission to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to develop a securities tokenization program that records ownership of stocks, ETFs, and debt securities on the blockchain. Regulated custodians and credit intermediary solutions have moved from the proof-of-concept phase to commercial production. The reason why 2026 is such a tipping point is that this year institutions will have to shift their operations from discrete batch cycles to continuous processes — 24/7 collateral management, real-time AML/KYC, digital custodial integration, and the acceptance of stablecoins as a settlement pathway. Institutions that can manage liquidity and risk on a continuous basis will capture flows that their competitors can’t reach.

Regulation Expands: Global Adoption Continues to Move Forward While U.S. Negotiates

While the regulatory environment in the United States and the United Kingdom has experienced significant headwinds, global crypto adoption has continued to advance with consistent momentum. Interactive Brokers, an electronic trading giant with millions of institutional and retail clients, announced on January 16, 2026 that their platform now accepts USDC (Circle) deposits for brokerage account funding instantly, 24/7 — without waiting for bank hours or traditional settlement times. This is tangible proof that the infrastructure for 24/7 operations is already operational.

Regulations in Asia show positive momentum. South Korea on January 18 removed a 9-year ban on corporate crypto investments, now allowing public companies to hold up to 5% of their equity capital in crypto assets, limited to high-quality tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. This decision opens the door for corporate institutions to allocate assets at a meaningful scale.

In the United States, the proposed CLARITY Bill faces a tough road. The controversy surrounding stablecoin incentives has complicated the legislative timeline, creating friction between traditional banks and non-bank stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Ripple. However, the momentum of international adoption shows that the transformation of the capital market to a 24/7 model does not wait for regulatory clarity from one country. Ethereum, the largest smart contract network, reported a significant increase in the number of new addresses interacting with the protocol, signaling new participation from previously unengaged users.

Second Year of Crypto: Institutions Prepare for Full-Scale Execution

Andy Baehr, Head of Product and Research at CoinDesk Indices, framed the dynamics of 2026 as the “second year” of institutional crypto adoption. If 2025 is the first year of enrollment in the major institutions of American capitalism, then 2026 is the year to build, grow, and specialize. To avoid the infamous “sophomore slump,” crypto must reach three critical milestones:

First, legislation and regulations. The CLARITY Bill must address the break-even of stablecoins and compromises need to be made to advance a coherent regulatory framework. Second, distribution is meaningful. Until crypto can reach the retail, mass affluent, high-net-value, and institutional segments with the same allocation incentives as traditional asset classes, institutional acceptance will not lead to market performance. Third, focus on quality. Data shows that high-quality digital assets — the top 20 names include currencies, smart contract platforms, DeFi protocols, and major infrastructure — will continue to dominate. Diversification becomes possible without carrying an excessive cognitive load.

Bitcoin-Gold Correlation Moves Positively, Signals Market Stabilization

Market trends show interesting changes. While gold hit a new record high last week, the 30-day rolling correlation between Bitcoin and gold turned positive for the first time this year, reaching 0.40. This shift indicates that Bitcoin is starting to behave more like a traditional safe-haven asset, especially amid global macroeconomic uncertainty.

However, the latest price data shows that volatility is still high. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $85.32K — down 4.89% in the last 24 hours — with an all-time high of $126.08K. Ethereum is at $2.84K, down 5.57% in the same period. Before drawing bullish conclusions, the market needs to confirm whether gold’s continued uptrend will provide a medium-term boost to Bitcoin, or if the persistent weakness of BTC price confirms a separation from traditional safe-haven assets.

Strategic Implications: Who is Ready for 2026?

This transformation has profound implications for financial institutions around the world. Those who start building operational capacity for the 24/7 market will now be in the best position to move quickly when the regulatory framework becomes clear. For example, NFT brands like Pudgy Penguins have identified the right strategy for this era: acquiring users through mainstream channels (toys, retail partnerships, viral content), then onboarding them to Web3 through widely distributed games, NFTs, and PENGU tokens (dropped to 6 million+ wallets). This multi-vertical approach shows how traditional IP can evolve into a decentralized consumer platform.

These fundamental reasons — capital efficiency, mature infrastructure, evolving regulations, and global adoption — make the transition to 24/7 capital markets not a future speculation, but rather an operational reality that has already begun. The question for financial institutions in 2026 is no longer whether they will have to adapt, but whether they will be able to adapt quickly enough to maintain relevance in this new capital market landscape. Those who understand the fundamental logic behind these changes and take operational action today will become market leaders next year.