Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, a firm managing over $13 trillion in assets, recently made a statement that has significant implications for the future of finance. He suggested that tokenization could potentially become even more impactful than artificial intelligence. This perspective, coming from a prominent figure like Fink, suggests that strategic institutional moves are likely already underway.
Historically, Fink's public pronouncements on emerging trends have served as indicators that BlackRock and other major global institutions were actively preparing to engage with these developments. His past emphasis on ETFs, ESG principles, and AI followed this pattern. Now, his focus on tokenization signals a significant direction for global capital allocation.
Importantly, Fink's discussion on tokenization was not centered on NFTs or retail speculation. Instead, he addressed the foundational infrastructure of the global financial system. Tokenization offers a modern alternative to the legacy ledgers currently used for moving collateral, payments, and settlements between financial institutions.
A persistent challenge has been the incompatibility between transparent public blockchain networks and the opaque private systems used by banks, coupled with regulatory oversight concerns. For years, a seamless integration between these two worlds was lacking, but a bridge is now being constructed.
$Ondo & Black Rock' Fink ($13T in assets managed)
— Sarosh (@SaroshQ2022) December 10, 2025
“Tokenization could be bigger than AI.” ~Larry Fink
What Larry Fink said the other day is not some throwaway line about “tokenization being the future.” It’s one of those rare moments where a major institutional figure says the…
Leading financial institutions, including BlackRock, JPMorgan, Citi, UBS, HSBC, and Franklin Templeton, have been actively working to address this integration challenge behind the scenes.
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority (MAS) is spearheading Project Guardian, an initiative focused on large-scale tokenization efforts. This project unites major banks, sovereign institutions, and regulated pilot programs within a shared ecosystem. Tokenization is no longer a theoretical concept; it is an active and rapidly expanding development.
ONDO's Role in the Tokenization Landscape
ONDO emerges as a key player in this evolving landscape. While many in the cryptocurrency space may view ONDO primarily as a speculative Real-World Asset (RWA) play, its function is more nuanced. ONDO is positioned as one of the few entities capable of issuing compliant, yield-bearing tokenized assets on public chains, operating within regulatory frameworks and without violating custody rules, even without being a traditional bank.
Major institutions like BlackRock can tokenize assets such as treasuries, but they face limitations in issuing stable, permissionless instruments on open networks. Similarly, JPMorgan can operate private chains but cannot seamlessly bridge regulated collateral onto public blockchains due to regulatory restrictions. Banks are generally not permitted to assume such a role.
ONDO, however, is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. It operates in a category permitted by regulators: a neutral issuer that avoids balance-sheet risk, functions across both public and private chains, and can integrate directly with the new settlement rails being developed by institutions. Rather than competing with large banks, ONDO is designed to act as the critical link connecting them to public blockchain infrastructure.
The Market's Lagging Reflection of Institutional Shifts
Fink's statement holds significant weight not for immediate price impacts, but as a confirmation of the substantial infrastructure being built covertly by major financial players. Tokenization is transitioning from a niche narrative to the definitive direction of global finance. Fundamental changes are occurring in ledgers, settlement processes, and collateral movement, with institutions now beginning to publicly acknowledge long-held plans.
The current market sentiment does not yet reflect these profound shifts. Liquidity remains constrained, overall sentiment is subdued, and many RWA tokens, including ONDO, are trading as if this future infrastructure is not materializing. This often occurs during periods of early structural change, where investor interest wanes, leading to perceptions of a sector being "dead" just as its foundational elements become indispensable.
Despite the quiet surface, the underlying work is well underway. BlackRock is actively building, the MAS is standardizing processes, and banks are migrating to new systems. As liquidity eventually returns to the market, asset prices are expected to align with the quietly developing infrastructure.
This underlying progress is why long-term investors are paying close attention to Fink's remarks. His statement is not mere hype; it is a confirmation of the developing technological rails for which assets like ONDO were designed, regardless of current market perception.