The New York Stock Exchange is building a brand-new venue for tokenized securities: 24/7, instant settlement, stablecoin rails, fractional shares, and support for both tokenized traditional assets and natively digital securities.
The announcement understandably caused excitement, and while it’s definitely meaningful, it also fell short on specifics. There were no details on the underlying blockchain infrastructure, standards, business model, or whether it’ll connect to DeFi.
And yet, we now have NYSE, Nasdaq, and DTCC all racing toward tokenization. Fans of a good old Innovator’s Dilemma case study will get their full money’s worth. Will tokenization give existing intermediaries a new technological wrapper to preserve their market power, or force them to cut into their own value chains and margins?
Today, we’ll take you behind the scenes of:
Swift and SG-FORGE complete tokenized bond trial
KBC becomes first Belgian bank to launch crypto trading
Visa partners with BVNK for stablecoin payouts
HIGH SIGNAL NEWS
The London Stock Exchange launches digital settlement service. Built on its private DLT-based DiSH ledger, the service will enable the 24/7, real-time movement of tokenised commercial bank deposits across multiple currencies and jurisdictions. 🇬🇧
State Street rolls out digital asset platform. The platform of the $5 trillion asset manager combines wallet management, custody, and cash functionalities to support the development and servicing of tokenized products across jurisdictions, on both private and public permissioned blockchain networks. 🇺🇸
Project Agorá enters testing phase. Supervised by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the project aims to design a new DLT-based cross-border payments system. The initial exploratory phases began in April 2024, bringing together a group of the world’s leading central banks alongside more than 40 major commercial banks. 🌐
DXC partners with Ripple for custody and payments. The global IT services and technology consulting provider is integrating digital-asset custody and payment capabilities with Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin into its Hogan core banking platform. 🏦
BANKING & STABLECOINS
SG-FORGE CEO after Swift Trial: “Stablecoins Are Ready. Tokenized Deposits Are Not”
Successful trial: Last week, Swift announced the successful completion of a delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement trial for tokenized bonds, combining fiat currency with SG-FORGE’s EUR CoinVertible stablecoin, issued by Société Générale’s blockchain subsidiary. BNP Paribas Securities Services and Intesa Sanpaolo acted as paying agents and custodians.
Why it matters: For the first time, Swift demonstrated its ability to coordinate the full transaction lifecycle, from issuance and DvP settlement to coupon payments and final redemption, using a stablecoin on Ethereum. The operation is part of the world’s largest interbank messaging network’s experimentation program aimed at enabling interbank transfers of tokenized assets and money.
“At a high level, it was a classic delivery-versus-payment transaction for a bond. The objective was to demonstrate that Swift can act as an orchestration layer, covering all the steps of an institutional-grade tokenization transaction,” explained Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of SG-FORGE, to Blockstories.
Interview: In our conversation, Stenger explained why this trial is significant for large-scale standardization and interoperability, and why SG-FORGE is betting on stablecoins rather than tokenized deposits.
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On moving from experimentation to standardization:
“For several years, the market has followed a clear sequence: first proving that financial assets can be tokenized, then showing that cash itself can be tokenized. The next critical step is integration into existing market infrastructures.
With this transaction, we are moving into a phase of normalisation. The focus is no longer on technical feasibility, but on standardization, operational rulebooks, and integration into production-grade infrastructure.
By demonstrating that stablecoin-based settlement can be orchestrated using SWIFT standards, we show that these digital assets can operate within the same trusted frameworks banks already use at scale.”
On why SG-FORGE is betting on stablecoins rather than tokenized deposits:
“There is a lot of discussion around tokenized deposits, but in practice they remain poorly defined from a legal and regulatory standpoint.
Stablecoins, by contrast, are now clearly regulated and far more efficient in terms of usage. They enable instant payments and, crucially, they do not lock client funds within a single bank. Tokenized deposits only work as long as you remain a client of that bank, with no real interoperability across institutions.
Clients ask for faster, cheaper, and simpler international payments, and today, stablecoins address those needs far more effectively.
Beyond the crypto ecosystem, we have always believed there would be strong demand to settle transactions between large financial institutions using bank-grade stablecoins like the ones we offer. That moment is now emerging.”
On the frictions between stablecoins and traditional fiat systems:
“The main frictions today are not on the blockchain side; they sit within banks themselves. Banking infrastructure is made up of complex, layered systems built over decades, where cash management, payments, and settlement often don’t communicate seamlessly.
When you introduce blockchain-based settlement that happens almost instantly, the challenge becomes synchronising these timelines with legacy systems that were never designed for such speed.
This is ultimately a temporal and operational issue: achieving atomic synchronisation between traditional banking infrastructure and onchain settlement.”
INSTITUTIONAL ADOPTION
KBC Becomes the First Belgian Bank to Launch a Retail Crypto Offering
First Belgian bank: Last week, KBC, Belgium’s second-largest bank, announced the launch of its retail crypto offering via Bolero, its online brokerage platform, starting February 16. With the move, KBC becomes the first bank in the country to roll out such a service.
Why it matters: KBC joins a growing group of EU banks expanding into retail crypto, alongside Spain’s BBVA and Santander through Openbank, and France’s BPCE via Hexarq.
“The decision to launch a crypto offering was taken in 2023. As a bank, we observed the growth of the crypto market and increasing client flows from our accounts to crypto exchanges, clearly signalling strong interest in this emerging asset class,” said Dirk Hermans, Innovation Manager & Digital Assets Strategy at KBC Group, in an interview with Blockstories.
How the setup works: Rather than building a crypto-native product, KBC structured the offering to mirror its existing brokerage model. The design can be broken down into five key components:
1/ Distribution and user experience: The crypto offering is fully embedded within Bolero. Client onboarding, order execution, settlement, and reporting follow the same workflows as equities or ETFs, allowing digital assets to be managed alongside traditional investments in a single interface.
2/ Closed-loop custody: That integration comes with constraints. At launch, the service will cover Bitcoin and Ethereum only, with no ability to transfer assets to or from external wallets. The closed-loop setup reflects AML and transaction monitoring requirements, as well as KBC’s preference for operating within a fully controlled, regulated banking environment.
“Our offering is not designed for crypto-native investors, but for clients who prefer to invest in digital assets within a trusted and familiar environment,” Hermans noted.
3/ Custody architecture: Within this closed-loop setup, KBC does not offer segregated onchain addresses per client. Assets are held pooled on bank-controlled addresses using HSM-based custody technology already used in its traditional operations. While an external provider supports the infrastructure, KBC retains full control over private keys.
4/ Trading and liquidity: On the execution side, KBC sources crypto liquidity through dedicated providers. Client orders are executed on an agency basis, with assets delivered directly onchain to addresses under KBC’s custody, allowing the bank to offer crypto exposure without taking balance-sheet risk.
5/ No MiCA license: Unlike some of its competitors, KBC is launching this offering without holding a formal, separate MiCA license. Instead, it relies on Article 60 of the EU regulation, which allows credit institutions to provide crypto-asset services through a notification to their regulator, avoiding double regulation.
“This offering is part of the bank’s core brokerage activities. Accordingly, our existing banking license already allows us to comply with all requirements applicable to crypto-asset service providers, just as we do for any other investment product we offer to clients,” Hermans clarified.
Stablecoin integration? KBC is also a founding member of Qivalis, the European consortium bringing together 11 banks and aiming to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin in the second half of 2026. For now, however, there are no plans to integrate this stablecoin into KBC’s crypto offering or to enable retail payments with it, the bank told Blockstories.
What’s next: The service will initially be rolled out to private investors to gather feedback before considering any expansion, such as adding additional crypto-assets.
Alexandre Eich Gozzi is Head of Product Management at Sopra Steria, one of Europe’s leading industrial digital services providers, where he leads Sopra Crypto Solutions a white label platform that enables banks to enter the retail digital assets space with a plug and play offer.
In the coming months, crypto offerings from traditional banks are set to accelerate. Momentum is strongest in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, where banks are more execution-driven and quicker to move than elsewhere.
This wave is being unlocked by pragmatism, not technology. Banks are deliberately narrowing scope: closed-loop setups, buy-and-hold use cases, a limited asset range and no self-custody. By simplifying the model, they reduce compliance and risk friction, making crypto easier to absorb within existing banking structures.
These products are not designed to mirror the crypto-native experience. They aim to protect distribution, retain clients and monetise trust. High fees and limited functionality are intentional, reflecting a retail audience that prioritises ease and reassurance. The real challenge now is execution: scaling these offerings and embedding crypto as a standard investment product for retail investors.
ING: Digital Asset Lead, Amsterdam 🇳🇱
Mastercard: Senior Analyst, Business Development, London 🇬🇧
Revolut: Head of Risk (Crypto), Remote 🇵🇹
Spiko: Head of Crypto, Paris 🇫🇷
State Street: Digital Product Development Lead, London 🇬🇧
Sygnum: Senior Project Lead Tokenization, Zurich 🇨🇭
What’s the news?
Last week, stablecoin payments infrastructure provider BVNK was selected to support stablecoin-based settlement for Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time payouts network that lets businesses and individuals send money directly to eligible Visa cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets.
The integration enables issuers and acquirers to prefund and settle transactions using stablecoins, while Visa continues to operate its existing fiat-based settlement model.
Founded in 2021 and based in London, the fintech claims to process more than $30 billion in stablecoin payments annually. Under this integration, it will provide the full technology stack, including compliance capabilities, liquidity management, and the orchestration of stablecoin payment flows.
Behind-the-scenes: We spoke with Chris Harmse, co-founder and Chief Business Officer at BVNK, to better understand the end-to-end technical process and how it improves upon traditional payment systems.
Going Beyond Payments Compliance (GFT) — A report arguing that ISO 20022 should not be treated as a pure compliance upgrade, but as a strategic opportunity for banks to modernize payments, unlock richer data, reduce costs, and improve efficiency and customer experience.
What if Ether Goes to Zero? (Banca d’Italia) — A paper examining how sharp drops in native crypto-asset prices can turn market volatility into infrastructure risk for permissionless blockchains, affecting settlement reliability and security.
Liquidity, Redemptions, and Fire Sales with a Systemic Stablecoin (IMF) — A paper showing how large stablecoin redemptions can trigger reserve asset fire sales and amplify liquidity stress across financial markets.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in the Institutional Briefing by Blockstories does not constitute investment advice. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any investment decisions made based on the content presented herein.