Davos New Consensus: Tokenization Is the Future

The 2026 World Economic Forum Davos Annual Meeting has just concluded. Unlike previous years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have completely shed the “novelty” label at the fringe of the roundtable and have become an unavoidable central topic on the agendas of global financial leaders and policymakers.

From strategic transformations by banking giants to firm declarations by asset management leaders, a narrative of financial system reshaping centered on “tokenization” is spreading from a small town at the foot of the Alps to the world. This is no longer just a preaching ground for crypto enthusiasts but a milestone where traditional financial power structures actively embrace change.

1. From “Marginal Topic” to “Critical”: Strategic Shifts in Financial Institutions

● The most emblematic signal comes from a complete reversal of attitude at the top of traditional financial pyramids. Details revealed during the conference by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong are highly symbolic: a senior executive from a top ten global bank openly stated that cryptocurrencies have become the bank’s “number one priority,” even a “life-and-death matter.”

This statement carries far more weight than any technical analyst’s forecast report. It reveals deep industry anxiety and a perception of opportunity.

● Amid changing interest rate environments and fierce competition, traditional banking is facing growth bottlenecks and mode challenges.

● Cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology are no longer viewed as mere speculative tools or technical experiments but are redefined as key variables that will determine customer bases, business models, and market share over the next decade.

● Armstrong observed that many financial leaders present at the forum are not only open-minded but are also “actively seeking entry pathways.” This shift from “defensive research” to “proactive deployment” is the most substantial progress at Davos.

Driving this shift are multiple overlapping factors:

1. Customer demand push: especially high-net-worth individuals and the new generation of investors’ need for digital asset allocation has become an undeniable reality.

2. Efficiency and cost pressures: the high costs and delays of traditional cross-border settlement and securities clearing processes are incompatible with the digital age.

3. Evolving competitive landscape: emerging crypto-native institutions and fintech companies are encroaching on traditional financial territories.

4. Regulatory clarity emerging: although global approaches vary, major financial centers are forming clearer regulatory frameworks, reducing policy uncertainty for institutional entry.

5. Tokenization: The Hottest Term and Core Consensus at this Davos

● If “cryptocurrency” is a broad term, then “tokenization” has become the focus of concrete discussions at this forum. It goes beyond Bitcoin’s price fluctuations, pointing to a grand vision of issuing, trading, and settling real-world assets (RWA) such as bonds, stocks, fund shares, real estate, and art as digital tokens on blockchain.

● Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, is highly representative. He repeatedly emphasizes that “the future of assets is tokenization” and calls for “placing all financial assets on a single blockchain.”

This leader of the world’s largest asset manager attributes the benefits of tokenization mainly to two core advantages: reducing intermediaries and increasing transparency to curb corruption. In his envisioned future, tokenization can cover a wide range from money market funds to real estate, creating a more efficient, inclusive, and trustworthy financial market infrastructure.

● Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse views stablecoins as the “typical example” of successful tokenization. In fact, stablecoins, as on-chain representations of fiat currency value, have become a core “pipeline” connecting traditional finance with the crypto world, demonstrating significant efficiency advantages in cross-border payments, remittances, and trade settlement.

Executives from companies like Circle also emphasize this role. The maturity and widespread adoption of stablecoins pave the way for broader asset tokenization, building trust and liquidity.

Industry leaders’ enthusiasm for tokenization is based on several practical judgments:

● Liquidity release: Fragmenting and tokenizing illiquid or less liquid assets (such as private equity and real estate) can greatly enhance trading efficiency and accessibility.

● Process automation: Using smart contracts to automatically execute dividends, interest payments, and settlements reduces manual costs and errors.

● 24/7 markets: Blockchain-based trading systems are expected to operate around the clock, breaking traditional market time restrictions.

● Portfolio innovation: Tokenized assets are easy to split and combine, spawning new financial products and investment strategies.

3. From “Waiting and Watching” to “Active Deployment”: Focus and Pathways for Institutional Entry

Davos discussions clearly show that mainstream institutions have shifted their focus from “whether to enter” to “how to enter.” Several key areas are repeatedly mentioned:

1. Regulatory clarity is a prerequisite: Bills like the US “GENIUS Act” and “CLARITY Act” aim to provide clear regulatory classifications and rules for digital asset markets. This is a prerequisite for large institutions, especially strictly regulated banks and asset managers, to deploy capital and technology at scale. As CZ stated, the US attitude is “symbolic,” influencing regulatory trends across the West and globally.

2. Infrastructure and interoperability: institutions need not an “adventure playground” but “highways.” They focus on enterprise-grade blockchain platforms, compliant custody solutions, institutional trading venues, and interoperability between different blockchain networks and stablecoins. Only with solid infrastructure and standardized protocols can tokenization scale effectively.

3. Integration with Artificial Intelligence (AI): The combination of AI with blockchain/crypto is another frontier. AI can be used for smart contract auditing, market risk prediction, anti-money laundering monitoring, etc., while blockchain provides trustworthy data sources and markets for AI computation resource trading. Their integration could spawn the next generation of fintech paradigms.

4. Talent and organizational transformation: traditional financial institutions are forming dedicated digital asset departments, recruiting talent with both finance and blockchain expertise, and adjusting internal risk control, compliance, and technical architectures to adapt to new business models.

5. The Evolution of Bitcoin’s Role: From “Digital Gold” to “Cycle Flagship”

Amid the lively discussions on pragmatic infrastructure (tokenization, stablecoins), Bitcoin has not been forgotten, but the context of its discussion has subtly shifted. Binance founder CZ admits he cannot predict short-term price movements but “can easily forecast long-term performance,” and strongly senses that 2026 will enter a “super cycle.”

The “super cycle” here is generally understood as a long-term bull market driven by large-scale institutional adoption, changes in global liquidity, halving cycles, and its narrative as “digital gold” as a store of value. In the Davos context, Bitcoin plays two roles:

● Market sentiment indicator: its price trends and cycle forecasts remain core indicators for assessing the attractiveness of the entire crypto asset class and capital flows.

● Foundation of decentralized value: unlike asset tokenization focused on efficiency, Bitcoin represents a non-sovereign, censorship-resistant asset paradigm, which is its unique value proposition compared to other crypto assets.

However, the main focus of mainstream financial discussion is indeed shifting toward “practical” infrastructure beyond Bitcoin that can transform existing financial processes. This indicates a layered understanding: Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset and store of value; while Ethereum and other public chains, as well as consortium chains, serve as application layers for asset tokenization, DeFi, and other financial innovations.

5. Outlook for 2026: Super Cycle or Rational Prosperity?

Davos’s voices set an optimistic tone for 2026. Ripple’s CEO predicts the market will “reach new highs,” CZ senses the arrival of a “super cycle.” However, a true “super cycle” should not only be reflected in soaring asset prices but also in fundamental technological breakthroughs and real economic value creation.

Key points to watch in 2026 may include:

● Will tokenization pilots translate into large-scale production applications? Especially the issuance and trading of tokenized core financial assets like sovereign bonds and large corporate loans.

● Will regulatory frameworks in major economies finally be implemented? Providing clear guidance for global institutions.

● Can traditional finance and crypto-native ecosystems achieve deep integration? Emergence of phenomenally successful hybrid financial products serving millions of users.

● Will the dominant narrative of the next bull market shift from a purely monetary story (inflation hedge, gold substitute) to a more powerful productivity narrative (improving global capital and asset allocation efficiency)?

The 2026 Davos Annual Meeting, quoting Larry Fink referencing Elon Musk: “Be an optimistic loser rather than a pessimistic corrector.” This aptly summarizes the collective mindset of current financial elites regarding crypto and blockchain: at the crossroads of transformation, embracing the enormous opportunities brought by uncertainty outweighs clinging to old paradigms and missing the future.

Crypto narratives have successfully integrated into the core agenda of upgrading global financial infrastructure. Tokenization, as the brightest practical path in this agenda, is attracting capital and wisdom from Wall Street to Lujiazui. Challenges remain—technological hurdles, regulatory gaps, and market volatility—but the direction is clear. Davos discussions indicate that the future of finance is being rewritten line by line, code by code, token by token. 2026 may well be the pivotal year when this profound transformation accelerates from blueprint to reality.