Date: 7 April 2026
Location: SGX Academy, Singapore
Format: Closed-Door Industry Roundtable (Chatham House Rule)
On 7 April 2026, Global Fintech Institute, in collaboration with Singapore Exchange, convened a closed-door industry roundtable at SGX Academy on Tokenisation and the Future of Capital Markets. The session brought together senior representatives from exchanges, banks, market makers, custodians, digital asset infrastructure providers, legal advisors, and regulators to assess where institutional tokenisation stands today, and what remains to be built for tokenised capital markets to scale.
Framed around the analogy of a construction project, the conversation explored whether the industry is still laying foundations or already moving in furniture. The consensus was that many houses have already been built, some on different foundations, and the priority is now consolidation, clarity, and the architecture required for institutional trust.
Key Themes Explored
Crypto-Native Liquidity and Market Structure. Liquidity in digital asset markets remains fragmented across centralised exchanges, decentralised venues, OTC desks, and bridging infrastructure. Tokenised real-world asset liquidity is almost entirely concentrated in fixed income and used primarily for repo, treasury yield, and collateral mobility rather than for secondary price discovery.
Institutional Adoption and Capital Markets Integration. The binding constraints to scaling tokenised financial products are accounting, tax, and capital treatment. Germany's eWpG was cited as a reference model for recognising tokens as assets in their own right, alongside the need for a zero-risk settlement asset at capital markets scale.
Infrastructure, Custody, and Interoperability. Custody is the true gateway to institutional adoption. A maturing hybrid landscape is emerging in which bank custodians and specialised crypto-native providers coexist. Interoperability was described as largely self-inflicted, with consolidation around a small number of dominant public networks seen as more likely to deliver institutional utility than further bridging layers.
Security and Governance. The security conversation must extend beyond cryptography to address social engineering and advanced persistent threats. Institutional custody must be architected on the assumption that sufficiently valuable targets will attract multi-year adversarial effort.
Market Design and the Future of Tokenisation. The end-state is a hybrid architecture in which tokenised and traditional finance coexist over a long transition. Singapore is well positioned to lead in APAC, provided regulators and industry co-design a clearer framework covering legal recognition, stablecoin licensing, tokenised collateral, and a level playing field between TradFi and crypto-native participants.
Recommendations for APAC Policymakers and Industry
- Adopt an asset recognition framework modelled on Germany's eWpG, allowing tokens to constitute recognised assets without the need for trust or SPV wrapping.
- Publish a dedicated stablecoin licensing framework comparable to the HKMA Stablecoin Ordinance, with a clear approval timeline for pending applications from digital banks and major payment institutions.
- Advance wholesale CBDC initiatives from pilot to production, recognising high-quality regulated stablecoins as complementary settlement assets.
- Clarify the scope of payment services and digital asset regulations for cross-chain facilitation, self-custody support, and off-exchange settlement so that risk-reducing infrastructure providers are not inadvertently captured.
- Establish a standing co-design platform convened by Global Fintech Institute and anchored by regulatory participation to draft industry standards for accounting, tax, capital treatment, and disclosure.
- Develop a framework for tokenised collateral, with defined legal structure, redemption mechanics, and capital treatment to enable institutional balance sheet use.
- Support the emergence of a clearing or prime brokerage capability able to clear both tokenised and traditional assets under a consolidated framework.
- Scale the Chartered Fintech Professional and Chartered Fintech Associate certifications and leverage FLEX.SG as the national talent pipeline for digital asset and tokenisation capability.
Report
The full insights report is available to Global Fintech Institute members on the GFI portal. [Access the Full Insights Report on GFI Portal]
About GFI Closed-Door Industry Roundtables
GFI's Closed-Door Industry Roundtables bring together senior leaders from financial institutions, exchanges, market makers, custody and infrastructure providers, and regulators for candid, Chatham House Rule discussions on questions shaping the future of finance. For information on upcoming sessions or partnership opportunities, contact [email protected].