Rich by Coin

The clearest signals of the sector’s maturation came not from a startup demo day, but from the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, where tokenization was discussed not as a moonshot but as a cost-reduction tool. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday (Jan. 19) announced it was developing a platform for the trading and on-chain settlement of tokenized securities, for which it will seek regulatory approvals. Tokenization promises faster settlement and lower operational costs, but it also introduces new considerations around accounting, compliance and counterparty exposure. Cross-border frictions are easing as tokenized instruments move through parallel rails to traditional systems.

At Davos, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters and French central bank Governor François Villeroy de Galhau each detailed how, with tokenization capabilities, costs are falling, settlement times are shrinking and cross-border frictions are easing as tokenized instruments move through parallel rails to traditional systems. Stablecoins have emerged as the first proof point for this approach. They demonstrate that tokenized representations of value can circulate globally, settle quickly and maintain sufficient trust to be used repeatedly. The fact that these conversations are happening at all suggests that tokenization has crossed an important threshold and is now being evaluated with the same rigor as any other market infrastructure upgrade.

Tokenization is transitioning from a concept to market infrastructure, as major exchanges explore faster settlement and lower costs. The trend also highlights cross-border efficiency and evolving accounting and compliance considerations. At Davos, leaders described how tokenization reduces costs and shortens settlement times, with tokenized instruments moving through parallel rails to traditional systems. As adoption grows, regulatory approvals and risk management will shape deployment across jurisdictions, and continued dialogue with regulators will be critical to unlocking scale.