In September, Nasdaq filed proposed rule changes enabling tokenized securities to trade through the DTC, the traditional U.S. clearing and settlement system, rather than creating a parallel crypto market. Weeks later, Binance approved BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund BUIDL as institutional collateral for off-exchange activity via triparty arrangements. The push for faster, auto-marginable assets is underway.
Nasdaq’s Proposal: Tokenized Securities Stick to Legacy Rails
Tokenized equities remain under the full securities framework, with the SEC still clarifying venue, intermediary, and execution governance. In December, the agency granted DTCC’s clearing subsidiary a three-year no-action relief to tokenize DTC-custodied assets—including Russell 1000 stocks, major index ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries—on approved blockchains starting in 2026. The trajectory is clear: the world’s largest institutions are building for tokenized assets as regulated collateral, not speculative wrappers.
BlackRock and JPMorgan Race to Build Collateral Systems
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink compared tokenization to the internet in 1996, while SEC Chair Paul Atkins said it could completely reshape finance within years. The tokenized real-world asset market now stands at $18.6 billion in distributed value, with over 570,000 holders; stablecoins exceed $300 billion in circulating supply. Institutions aren’t just minting tokens—they’re building collateral rails. JPMorgan’s Tokenized Collateral Network converts money market fund shares into collateral that moves in seconds. BlackRock’s BUIDL already serves as institutional collateral in triparty arrangements. Nasdaq’s approach matters because it doesn’t build a parallel market; tokenized securities settle through DTC. Coinbase plans to list tokenized U.S. equities, and Tether explores tokenizing its own equity.
Multi-Asset Collateral Engine: The 2026 Tipping Point
JPMorgan’s $50 million commercial paper issuance for Galaxy Digital on Solana, settled entirely in USDC, demonstrates bank-run money markets morphing into tokenized collateral flows. Currently, each system maps to one asset class: JPMorgan moves money market shares; BUIDL posts as institutional collateral in specific arrangements; Nasdaq targets tokenized securities with DTC settlement; DTC’s new service covers blue chips, ETFs, and Treasuries. The next step—the real 2026 inflection—is connecting them. Imagine a unified collateral pool where Treasuries, equities, and gold function as one. The system automatically rebalances risk, adjusts collateral ratios as prices move, and unlocks liquidity without forced sales. This changes yield product design: a liquidity position combining a stablecoin with a tokenized equity index can generate income within the same instrument. The acceptable collateral set will keep expanding—tokenized short-duration credit, structured notes, regulated fund shares, sovereign debt—anything that can be securely stored, priced, and verified onchain.
Fink’s 1996 analogy needs a tweak: the internet was about information moving faster; tokenization is about collateral moving faster. The point isn’t that assets live on a blockchain—it’s that they stop sitting still. Collateral that can rebalance itself, post automatically, and move across positions without friction is capital finally earning what it should. Most capital sits idle because moving it is expensive and slow. Multi-asset collateral changes that: portfolios become liquid, and yield follows. That is where the next cycle’s value will be created—the true infrastructure story of 2026.