Institutional Tokenization Enters a BTC-Independent Era

Galaxy Digital’s tokenization head Thomas Cowan announced that blockchain tokenization is now decoupling from Bitcoin price movements, ushering in a BTC-independent phase. Institutions, focused on efficiency, cost reduction and liquidity, view tokenization as core infrastructure rather than a speculative tool. On-chain settlement can shrink T+1 or T+2 into T+0, automate compliance with transparent audit trails, and cut operational costs by over 40%. Illiquid assets like private equity and real estate become divisible and tradeable 24/7 on secondary markets. BlackRock’s USD Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) has amassed $2.3 billion, while JPMorgan pilots tokenized lifecycle management. Galaxy Digital partners with Superstate to list Nasdaq equities on Solana for near-instant settlement. According to Broadridge, 63% of custodians and 15% of asset managers already offer tokenization services. Regulatory uncertainty remains a top concern, but programmable compliance (“law as code”) is gaining traction. Standard Chartered projects tokenized assets could swell to $30.1 trillion by 2034, with institutions allocating 10–40% of portfolios to tokenized real-world assets by 2030. As blockchain tokenization solidifies its role in financial infrastructure, traders should monitor RWA token launches, settlement innovations and regulatory milestones.