Citi’s June 2026 research report titled Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain makes key predictions on the expected institutional embrace of digital assets over the next five years and offers some best practice advice for those implementing DLT to support tokenisation initiatives.
Overall, the report highlights the current initiatives by institutions to move from small pilot projects to enterprise deployment supporting real, everyday operational use. Using today’s activity as a reference point, the report predicts massive growth for digital assets on DLT rails, driven by trusted, traditional finance giants rather than crypto-native startups).
Some specific predictions are:
- Trillion-Dollar Growth: The total tokenised asset market will explode from roughly $17 billion today to a $5.5 trillion base case by 2030. In a best-case scenario, this could increase to $8.2 trillion.
- Public Markets Outpace Private Markets: Early tokenisation growth will be led by public, highly liquid market securities including U.S. equities and Treasuries, rather than complex, illiquid private assets.
- Stablecoin Surge: Regulated stablecoins are expected to grow into a $1.9 trillion market, serving as a backbone needed to settle trades instantly.
- Rise of “Structural Orchestrators”: A new tier of dominant players will emerge. These will evolve from current large banks, asset managers, and/or stablecoin issuers that successfully control both the asset issuance function and the cash settlement rails.
- Pressure on Middlemen: Traditional post-trade intermediaries who do not control asset issuance or cash rails will face considerable fee compression and structural pressure as settlement becomes automated and faster.
Given the backdrop of a massively expanded market for digital assets and a restructuring of the institutional landscape of participants, the report also provides high level advice for those implementing DLT platforms. This includes:
- Plan for a “Hybrid” Reality First
Participants should not expect traditional financial systems to vanish overnight. The transition will be slow and gradual. Participants should design operating models that allow legacy platforms, private DLT/blockchains, and public blockchains to work side-by-side. The capability to manage this nearer-tem hybrid complexity, and associated reconciliation costs, will define winners more than the technology itself.
2. Prioritise Value Layer Integration
DLT implementations should focus on vertical integration. The primary competitive edge will go to institutions that can manage the full asset lifecycle, rom underwriting and token issuance to digital custody and cash settlement, inside a trusted ecosystem. This allows firms to minimise third-party dependencies, lower operational friction, and keep a larger piece of the revenue pie.
3. Focus on “Killer Use Cases”
Tokenisation should not just be used as a high-tech “digital wrapper” for legacy processes. Instead, implementations should focus on areas where DLT provides immediate business value, such as:
– Atomic Settlement (Delivery-versus-Payment): Erasing counterparty risk so institutions do not have to tie up massive capital buffers.
– Programmable Collateral: Using smart contracts to automate multi-asset portfolio rebalancing, intraday repos, and real-time Net Asset Value (NAV) reporting.
4. Build for Interoperability and Leverage Open Standards
Implementations should not follow siloed, proprietary network designs. Scaling tokenised funds will be impossible if it is difficult to interact with other participants and tap into shared liquidity at scale.
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