In a recent The Economist piece, Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein describe tokenization as the next major upgrade to financial market infrastructure—on par with SWIFT or ETFs in how it reshapes settlement and access.
Tokenisation doesn’t fail at issuance. It fails when governance, safeguards, and lifecycle controls don’t scale.
What the article gets right:
- Instant settlement can reduce counterparty risk.
- Private markets still run on paper, bespoke processes, and manual reconciliation.
- Regulation still applies — a bond is a bond, even onchain
What’s often missed: Institutional tokenisation only works when:
- rules are enforced at transfer-time, not after the fact
- identity, eligibility, and limits are embedded in the asset
- approvals, exceptions, and reconciliations produce tamper-resistant evidence
- redemption and distribution flows are operationally reliable