The Future of Tokenized Securities

Let's get to the big story breakdown while the narrative around digital assets is undergoing a transformation from speculative volatility to regulated reality.

Recently, the SEC released pivotal guidance establishing a new taxonomy for tokenized securities from native on chain issuance to synthetic exposure through special purpose vehicles.

The regulatory fog is lifting.

So firms navigating the landscape to bridge the gap between.

Institutional assets and the individual investor will joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange is Thomas Cowan, head of tokenization at Galaxy Digital great to have you back on.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thanks for having me.

Great to be on.

Well speaking of fog here in New York City, there is dense fog outside but given that 2026 has been quite volatile, not just for crypto but also other assets as well.

Where are we right now?

With all things tokenization, one of the most exciting things about this past cycle is the fact that we've seen a clear separation from the volatility of crypto native assets to the technological benefits that we see with tokenization.

So that split has really happened.

So whether Bitcoin goes up or down, we're seeing a doubling down in a real investment from the traditional financial players.

Seeing the benefits of this technology in ways we haven't in previous cycles and speaking of which we're here at the New York Stock Exchange and we continue to see headlines regarding tokenization but also how institutionals are adopting some of these technologies that were crypto native.

So where do we go from here and what do you think of the SEC guidance.

Yes, so in terms of where we think we're going to go from here, we've seen clear product market fit with stablecoins in the past couple of years.

Tokenized money market funds over the past year and a half or so have seen clear demand, and now we're really seeing more and more narratives, especially in 2025, around tokenized equities.

And the question is, to your point, as we continue to get more and more regulatory clarity, what parts of the different asset classes are we going to see find product market fit end up on the chain?

I think we're really going to see a lot of structured products.

And on chain credit in the beginning of 2026 begin to see demand on chain because of the benefits that technology can have for that specific asset class as well as equities and equities are interesting because the opportunity is so vast.

The question is all.

Different companies thinking about what's best and how they can help move the market forward given the regulatory guidance.

We're not out of the woods yet.

We still need that clarity Act to pass.

What's important is everyone is having that discussion and we can get there sooner rather than later is the hope. and we take a look at the crypto market, we know that there isn't as much history as say equities, for example.

So where do you think we are in the cycle and why does it matter so much?

Making predictions about crypto, about crypto prices is always, always a challenge.

One thing I will say is if you look at the previous price of Bitcoin, you see this 4 year cycle and it seems to be on schedule.

Said, one of the things that is most exciting for us here at Galaxy and for the other major companies that we work with is the fact that people are really focusing on what this technology can unlock.

There are clear benefits of having crypto native assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but for us we're really focused on working with our parties, some of the biggest try to find names in the space, to think through what this technology can.

Not just for crypto assets but for their traditional assets.

Better settlement, more transparency, better secondary market, higher collateral mobility, all these benefits that just are upgraded to the plumbing of the system.

It doesn't upend the system, it just upgrades it.

And this process is going to be a long one.

It will follow a typical S curve.

I think we're very, very early, but given the regulatory clarity, we think we're really well positioned for 2016 to be a big year. and for viewers who are currently watching and wondering what the impact of all of this is and they're wondering what's going to happen to the price of Bitcoin as well as the other major cryptos, but you're also looking at the decoupling as you mentioned, so how do you see all of this shaking up.

I think what's exciting is in previous cycles we've seen major Trad 5 firms invest when they see the Bitcoin go up, and then as Bitcoin comes down we've seen them focus on their core businesses.

In this case they see this technology as part of their core business in a way we haven't seen in previous cycles.

So we're seeing those teams build.

We're seeing the strategic alignment for this technology become a cornerstone.

For some of these major firms, and that's what we're so excited about.

Some are taking the strategy of building everything in-house.

Others are taking the strategy of partnering with some of the major, major leaders in the crypto space such as Galaxy, and that's really where we shine.

We have the DNA of Tradfi and expertise of crypto, so we're able to work with some of the biggest Tradfi names to help them through this whole process from what is Bitcoin all the way through to what tokenization can unlock and really help them through that process and begin to launch different products that are crypto.

And speaking of which, we're only in the first quarter of 2026, so we do have three more quarters to go.

So given where we are, what are some of the innovations that you're paying attention to and why is it so important for both institutional as well as retail investors alike.

Yes, so we're focusing a lot of our time on the private credit space specifically because there's so much inefficiency off chain in the settlement, transparency, and so that benefit really is transformative just from a tokenization technology perspective.

The other topic that a lot of people in this space are talking about is vaults and how that really can be looked at as an upgrade.

The asset management space because it is such a more efficient, more transparent way to be able to allow investors to be able to access different types of investments and again that's going to take a long time, but in 2016 we really see vaults as something that's going to be a cornerstone to the tokenization space going forward and for those who may not be as familiar with vaults break this down for us.

What matters when it comes to this technology?

Really what it can be looked at as a more efficient way for managers to be able to allocate assets in a way where they can increase transparency, they can lower costs, and they can increase distribution.

All things allow them to reach new customers, have better products, and at lower costs to be able to increase.

And make the product that they're offering more efficient and more transparent for the asset class abroad across the board.

And Thomas, finally, before I let you go, of course we're paying attention to what's happening here in the US, but there are a lot of events taking place across the globe.

It is that time of year again.

So what is most interesting for you across the world and why?

Big question, I would say one of the most exciting things about crypto and tokenization is by definition it is global.

So while there are a lot of different regulatory questions that different governments are finally grappling with with this technology, there's only one price of Bitcoin.

And so it allows us to really have to partner with companies and countries all over the world to make sure that we have the most efficient and Most robust capital markets that we can have and tokenization is that cornerstone that we see going forward.

Well Thomas, always great talking to you.

Thank you so much for joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange today and thank you so much for sharing all of your insights.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.