Fidelity points out that institutions that are focused on a token-on-chain future can't go backwards.

Financial institutions headed into the Token Rise after real asset demand grew41% and was valued at US$323 billion.

Financial institutions are rushing into the on-chain world with token raising initiatives that open up new market access and create structural advantages over traditional investment products, according to Matthew Horne, head of digital asset strategy at Fidelity Investments.

Speaking at Longitude Singapore on Thursday, Horne said that looking at the movements of financial institutions as real players over the past 18 months, pushing assets up a chain has become an irreversible path.

Horne explains that asset managers in the U.S. have a special incentive to move assets up the chain because token raising gives investors better access and helps custodians gain access to new markets.

Such momentum is consistent with data from RWA.xyz stating that the demand for token-converted assets has increased41% over the past 30 days, with the number of holders exceeding 493,000 Addresses. This figure measures all addresses holding real tokenized assets excluding stablecoins.

On the same stage, panelists from left to right included Jihye Lee of WSJ, Matthew Horne of Fidelity Investments, Ka Yan Chan of UBS, Chongwu Du of Securitize and Sidney Powell of Maple.

Bonds and stocks could draw billions.

Ka Yan Chan, Head of Digital Asset Business Development at UBS said that bonds and stocks could bring billions of US dollars to the table as they are a key component of investment portfolios.

He saw that the drive to move from multi-billion to multi-trillion US dollars would come when market infrastructure players like the Fed or DTCC take the first step in turning asset management into a token platform.

In Chan's view, industry players can take advantage of those platforms by creating supply chains for tokenized assets.

The momentum at the infrastructure market is moving.

In December,2025 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) SEC issued a formal no action letter to its subsidiary, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), allowing it to offer token conversion services in newly formed securities markets.

In September,SEC a temporary exemption was approved allowing the limited trading of U.S. convertible tokens on some blockchain platforms.

Earlier on Thursday, Securitize announced that it would begin trading in 12 of the most widely held U.S. stock tokens, including security entitlements.

Capital on the chain and a value that could touch $4 trillion.

Data from OnchainBenchmark indicates that more than US$7 billion has flowed on the chain over the past 30 days, contributing to a total value of stablecoins and token-convertible assets in excess of US$323 billion.

Geoff Kendrick, head of global digital asset research at Standard Chartered, predicted in August that tokenized real assets could be worth as much as US$4 trillion by the end of the year.2028

For additional context on the original reference, there is an analysis stating that U.S. financial markets are ready to move upward after DTCC's green light for token raises and a journal article discussing how tokenized bonds can be used in real market structures in Hong Kong.