During the Consensus 2026 panel discussion, The RWA Boom: Tokenized Assets & Institutional Surge, the conversation around tokenization was no longer speculative. It was operational, institutional and grounded in execution. Nowhere was that clearer than in the remarks from Nadine Chakar, Managing Director and Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets, who positioned tokenization not as a disruptive experiment, but as a deliberate evolution of market infrastructure at scale.
Chakar noted DTCC is not exploring tokenization at the margins. It is actively bringing its full post-trade inventory onto shared digital infrastructure. That includes roughly $150 trillion in U.S. equities and other assets, with a soft launch scheduled for July 13. “The industry has moved past talk,
she said. “Tokens are now moving on chain in production environments.”
Click here to learn more about how DTCC is Transforming Finance Through Secure Tokenization
Evolution, Not Replacement
A central theme of the panel was whether blockchain-based infrastructure upgrades or replaces existing financial systems. Chakar noted that with trillions of dollars already embedded in today's markets, wholesale replacement is neither realistic nor responsible.
Tokenization, she emphasized, must be applied where it solves real problems. Enhancing settlement certainty, improving collateral mobility and reducing operational friction matter far more than tokenizing for novelty’s sake. This framing was echoed by other panelists, including leaders from JPMorgan and Citi, who described blockchain as another tool in the institutional toolkit, enabling 24/7 operations, transparency, and speed without abandoning proven safeguards.
Adoption Is Now a Two-Way Street
While early tokenization efforts often required industry push, Chakar noted a decisive shift. Adoption today is being pulled by institutional demand as much as it is driven by infrastructure providers. Regulatory clarity, improved risk frameworks and successful early deployments have moved institutions from experimentation to scale.
Learn more: DTCC Advances Development of New Tokenization Service
Her reflections on DTCC’s earlier launch of it Collateral AppChain illustrated this shift well. The platform addresses deep-seated inefficiencies in collateral workflows and as those benefits became tangible, demand followed. This mirrors the broader industry trajectory described by Citi’s Ryan Rugg, who cited client-driven expansion from millions to billions in tokenized value flows.
Risk Management Remains the Non-Negotiable
Chakar brought the message of risk management into sharp focus. “Scale means nothing without risk discipline,” she said. “DTCC settles roughly $4 quadrillion each year. No Web3-native infrastructure can match that volume while also delivering the privacy, resiliency and settlement certainty institutional markets require.”
Decentralization, she acknowledged, is a powerful concept. But scalability and privacy often work against each other. Risk management cannot be ignored. Corporate actions, multi-chain securities, tender offers and cross-market dependencies are complex, unglamorous problems, yet they define market integrity. This reality grounded the more visionary commentary from Web3-native voices on the panel, creating a constructive tension between innovation and operational truth.
The Enduring Role of Market Infrastructure
When asked whether decentralized systems could one day replace DTCC, Chakar offered, “The role of DTCC will evolve, but intermediation itself does not disappear. Markets require accountability, governance and one throat to choke.”
Read More: Collateral Mobility – The Next Post-Trade Upgrade
That perspective resonated with other institutional panelists, who stressed that clients look to trusted partners to navigate new technologies, manage controls and integrate tokenized assets into existing services. Trust is what enables scale. Proponents of native on-chain issuance acknowledged that the transition will be gradual and must coexist with traditional systems for years to come.
In closing, Chakar returned to a theme that ran quietly through the entire discussion. “Shared progress requires shared infrastructure,” she said. “Tokenization at institutional scale is not something any single firm can solve alone. DTCC is uniquely positioned to help lead that future, not as a disruptor on the sidelines, but as a steward at the center of the system.”