From products to infrastructure: What digital assets really mean for financial institutions

Tokenization, stablecoins, cryptocurrency, and the digital euro are no longer just innovation topics. They are beginning to reshape the foundations of financial services: access to capital markets, trading, settlement, custody, payments, and the customer relationship.

For banks, brokers, and wider financial services firms, digital assets raise a deeper question: what happens to their business model once these assets become part of the mainstream market? What will customers still pay for when access, trading, and settlement become simpler and more efficient.

Digital assets will not simply add another product category for banks and brokers. They challenge where financial institutions create value, how they monetize it, and what role they want to play in an increasingly digital value chain.

Capital markets are becoming more modular

Discussion around tokenization often focuses on new asset classes or digital securities. Strategically, however…