CoinDesk
Fidelity International's Giselle Lai told the WebX conference in Tokyo that the most compelling long-term use case for tokenized funds is balance-sheet management for large global institutions, not the round-the-clock liquidity pitch that dominates retail marketing. The framing matters because institutional cash sits in fragmented accounts across jurisdictions to satisfy regulatory, FX and liquidity-buffer rules, and a meaningful slice of those balances earns no return today. Tokenized money market funds and other onchain instruments, Lai argued, can move that cash faster, earn yield around the clock and integrate with broader treasury needs without forcing a rewrite of long-term strategy.
The category already exists at scale. BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) debuted in March 2024, and tokenized money market funds now hold more than $15 billion in AUM. The broader onchain real-world-asset market, excluding stablecoins, has crossed $31 billion, and Grand View Research projects the global asset tokenization market could reach $24.5 trillion by 2033, with some industry estimates stretching toward $88 trillion by 2035.
Why it matters
Lai pushed back on the narrative that institutions want tokens for their own sake. "Generally speaking, they are not asking for tokens. They are asking for what tokens can do more compared to the existing wrappers they already have." That distinction is the cleaner institutional read: tokenization is a settlement and cash-mobility rail, not a story about 24/7 trading screens. The fastest adopters to date have been stablecoin issuers, corporate treasuries and platforms that need always-on yield and collateral mobility, which suggests the use case is already being validated inside the firms that move the most cash.
Market impact
Lai cautioned that a fully built balance-sheet management layer is a generation away, drawing the parallel to the roughly 20 years the ETF wrapper took to mature into a comprehensive ecosystem.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Fidelity's Giselle Lai say about tokenization at WebX?
She argued that the most compelling long-term use case for tokenized funds is balance-sheet management for large global institutions, not 24/7 liquidity, because institutions hold idle cash across fragmented accounts and need a faster, cheaper way to move and earn on it.
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Why would pension funds and insurers use tokenized funds?
Multi-jurisdictional cash buffers sit in low- or zero-yield accounts to meet regulatory, FX and liquidity rules. Tokenized money market funds can move that cash faster, earn yield around the clock, and plug into existing treasury workflows without rewriting long-term strategy.
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How big is the tokenized money market fund market today?
Tokenized money market funds now hold more than $15 billion in AUM, led by BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which launched in March 2024. The broader onchain real-world-asset market has crossed $31 billion excluding stablecoins.
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How large could the tokenization market get?
Grand View Research projects the global asset tokenization market at $24.5 trillion by 2033, with some industry estimates stretching as high as $88 trillion by 2035. Forecasts vary widely depending on whether alternative investments and tokenized infrastructure are included.
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How long will it take for tokenized balance-sheet tools to fully mature?
Lai compared it to the roughly 20 years the ETF wrapper needed to become a comprehensive ecosystem. She expects a full-fledged tokenized balance-sheet management layer for pensions, insurers and corporates to take a comparable runway, even though individual instruments like tokenized MMFs are already live.
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