Tokenized Tulips? Wall Street Banks Bet $355M Europe's Capital Markets Go Onchain 🌷

Major financial institutions are pressing forward with tokenization initiatives aimed at lifting capital efficiency and liquidity across European markets, according to executives speaking at the WAIB Summit 2026 in Monaco. Rafael Mastroberardino, head of digital assets partnership development at Franklin Templeton, said tokenized assets give institutions more "optionality and flexibility," a dynamic he tied to growing interest from banks and large corporates in launching their own offerings. Julien Clausse, head of BNP Paribas CIB's tokenization platform, said blockchain's ability to host multiple assets on a single chain could unlock new institutional use cases, provided those assets are able to interact with one another.

Wall Street's tokenization push gathered pace this month. On March 18, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq's pilot proposal to support trading of tokenized versions of high-volume stocks and securities. Six days later, on March 24, the New York Stock Exchange said it had partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to develop blockchain-based trading infrastructure for tokenized shares of stocks and exchange-traded funds. The effort sits inside parent company Intercontinental Exchange's plans for a tokenized securities venue featuring 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding and onchain settlement.

Separately, several of the largest US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are reportedly preparing a tokenized deposit network targeted for launch in the first half of 2027, designed to keep deposits within regulated banking channels while delivering the speed and programmability associated with blockchain-based assets. On Thursday, Digital Asset Holdings raised $355 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm, a deal that reportedly valued the company at around $2 billion. The capital is earmarked to expand Canton Network, a platform built for financial institutions to tokenize and settle traditional securities while keeping sensitive data private. Canton has already been piloted by Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Société Générale and Deutsche Börse.