Fidelity: Institutions cannot reverse the trend towards finance on the tokenized chain

Institutions 'interest in tokenized finance is accelerating, and the transformation of the capital market on the chain is irreversible.

Institutions' interest in tokenized finance is accelerating. Executives believe that the transition to on-chain capital markets is now difficult to reverse. At a Longitude event in Singapore on Thursday, Matthew Horne, head of digital asset strategy at Fidelity Investments, said the momentum generated by "true institutional investors" over the past 18 months has taken the industry a lasting step towards a future on the chain.

In this panel discussion, UBS's Ka Yan Chan linked the next phase of growth to regulated market infrastructure-especially the custody and settlement layers. At the same time, other industry data suggests that activity in tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) is steadily expanding. Together, these remarks highlight how tokenization has evolved from an experimental stage to a pipeline, and its expansion space will further expand as compliance and market infrastructure improve.

Core Points

• Matthew Horn of Fidelity Investments pointed out that the trend in on-chain finance driven by institutions over the past 18 months is unlikely to reverse.
• RWA.xyz data shows that in the past 30 days, the demand for tokenized real-world assets has increased by 41%, and the number of holders (excluding stablecoins, only counting tokenized asset addresses) has reached 493,000.
• UBS's Chen Jiayan believes that the key to achieving large-scale applications lies in infrastructure operators 'conversion of hosting services into tokenized platforms.
• 近期的美国证券交易委员会（SEC）行动和交易启动，标志着代币化已从单纯的发行扩展到在链上场所进行有限制的交易。
• OnchainBenchmark报告称，过去30天内有超过12亿美元的资金移至链上，稳定币和代币化资产的总资本已超过3230亿美元。

富达：链上化正成为机构的默认选择

霍恩将代币化视为一种市场准入工具，同时也是一种大型机构运作方式的结构性转变。他强调，机构采用代币化技术已超越短暂的趋势，这种向链上未来的推进是“无法回头”的。

霍恩特别指出，对于美国资产管理公司而言，代币化提供了与分发渠道和市场覆盖范围相关的激励措施。代币化产品可以拓宽投资者的参与门槛，帮助金融机构“触达新市场”。这一因素超越了纯粹的技术新颖性，构成了将资产迁移至链上路由的商业逻辑基础。

支持这一观点的数据来自RWA.xyz，该报告显示过去30天内代币化资产的需求增加了41%。同一数据集显示，持有者数量超过49.3万人，这里的持有者定义为持有代币化RWA的总地址数，且排除了稳定币。

瑞银：“数十亿”规模取决于代币化托管与结算

UBS's Chan focuses on the changes needed for tokenization to achieve scale in mainstream portfolio building. She proposed that once the operating base is ready, Treasury bills and stocks-core assets in many investment strategies-could move "billions" of money up the chain.

Chen Jiayan believes that infrastructure transformation will be a key catalyst. She said that the driving force for the scale from "billions to trillions of dollars" came from market infrastructure participants such as the Federal Reserve or DTCC (American Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation) taking the lead in converting custody layers into tokenized platforms.

This framework is important to investors and developers because it implies that the bottleneck of tokenization lies not only in asset issuance or token standards, but also in the institutional-level "infrastructure" that regulates how assets are securely held, transferred and reconciled in regulated systems. Chen Jiayan added that industry participants can take advantage of the momentum by building a distribution layer for tokenized assets based on these initiatives.

Regulation and market milestones push trading from theory to execution

The panel discussion also mentioned regulatory signals that promote the gradual development of on-chain securities markets. According to reports, in December 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a "no action" letter to a subsidiary of DTCC, allowing it to provide tokenization services.

The report also cited an SEC approval in September that provided temporary exemptions for all restricted trading of tokenized U.S. stocks on certain chains. Earlier in the same day, Securitize announced the launch of tokenized share trading of dozen only widely held U.S. stocks, including securities interests-another move to connect tokenization with actual market activity rather than just staying at the issuance stage.

Although these developments are still described as limited and conditional, they are important because tokenization can only become feasible in large-scale applications if transactions, custody and compliance expectations are consistent. Each incremental regulatory green light reduces the uncertainty companies have in deciding whether to invest in products and market connections.

The key question for readers who follow the pace of institutional rollouts is how quickly these "pilot" approvals can translate into broader participation and more liquid markets, especially for treasury bills and large-cap stocks.

Market activity: Chain value continues to grow

In addition to policy and infrastructure discussions, chain transaction volume indicators also point to continued expansion. According to OnchainBenchmark, more than $1.2 billion of funds have been moved onto the chain in the past 30 days. The same source reported that the total capital of stablecoins and tokenized assets has exceeded US$323 billion.

报道中引用的行业预期也表明，如果采用率持续上升，代币化RWA可能会快速增长。渣打银行全球数字资产研究主管Geoff Kendrick在8月预测，到2028年底，代币化RWA规模可能达到4万亿美元。

当然，长期预测取决于监管清晰度、运营升级和市场采用率——而不仅仅是发行量。瑞银的观点强调，托管和结算层对于解锁这一规模至关重要。

目前，投资者和开发者应密切关注代币化托管倡议是否能在当前豁免和试点之外取得进展，以及交易量与持有者增长是否继续同步上升。如果行业能够将监管许可和基础设施动能转化为持久的市场效用，代币化金融可能会从选择性用例转向更广泛的投资组合构建。