Tokenization momentum accelerates

Tokenization is moving into the back office of finance, not just its pilot labs. In the past week alone, JPMorgan Chase, the International Monetary Fund, Japan’s banking system and Broadridge all pointed to the same shift. (jpmorganchase.com) Tokenization means putting an asset or a claim on a blockchain ledger so it can move with software rules attached, instead of through separate databases, reconciliations and cutoff times. The International Monetary Fund said tokenization can add “programmability” and connect capital flows across borders and asset classes on shared platforms. (imf.org) JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon wrote in the bank’s 2025 annual report, released April 2026, that “a whole new set of competitors is emerging based on blockchain,” including stablecoins, smart contracts and tokenization. That language put blockchain tools alongside fintechs as a direct competitive pressure in a shareholder document. (jpmorganchase.com) JPMorgan’s own blockchain business is also getting bigger inside the bank. In its 2024 Commercial & Investment Bank shareholder letter, published April 7, 2025, the bank said Kinexys by J.P. Morgan was processing more than $2 billion in transactions daily. (jpmorganchase.com) That matters because stablecoins and tokenized deposits aim at the mechanics banks have long controlled: moving cash, settling trades and updating ownership records. JPMorgan’s Digital Debt Service already uses blockchain-based deposit accounts and smart contracts to handle bond settlement and coupon payments on its Kinexys platform. (jpmorganchase.com) The International Monetary Fund is describing the same tradeoff in broader terms. Its September 2025 Finance & Development article said stablecoins can lower frictions in cross-border payments, but also raise risks tied to dollarization, cyber resilience, money laundering, run dynamics and pressure on bank funding. (imf.org) Japan is testing whether those new rails can work inside regulated banking. Bank of Japan Executive Director Kazushige Kamiyama said in a February 2, 2026 speech that three major Japanese banks had announced joint proof-of-concept work on a yen-denominated stablecoin for corporate internal and external settlements. (boj.or.jp) Separate trials in Japan are reaching securities settlement too. Ledger Insights reported in March 2026 that Nomura Securities and Daiwa Securities, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho, were starting a proof of concept to use stablecoins for securities settlement in the Financial Services Agency’s Fintech Proof of Concept Hub. (ledgerinsights.com) Broadridge, which handles a large share of the plumbing behind proxy voting and investor communications, said on April 6, 2026 that it had extended its governance platform to digital assets. The company said the new system lets firms manage proxy voting, corporate actions and disclosures across traditional and tokenized securities, and that its tokenization tools already process $8 trillion in tokenized assets per month. (broadridge.com) Broadridge’s first live example is Galaxy, which will let tokenized shareholders vote in its May 2026 meeting through Broadridge’s Avalanche-based system. That puts one of the oldest chores in public markets — proxy voting — onto the same kind of ledger now being tested for payments and settlement. (broadridge.com) The common thread is that the experiments are no longer limited to issuing a token and stopping there. Banks, market utilities and policymakers are now testing whether cash movement, securities settlement and shareholder voting can run on the same digital rails. (jpmorganchase.com)