Eric Piscini, Chief Executive Officer of Hashgraph.
Buying a house today still feels rooted in the past—weeks of waiting, stacks of paperwork and a lineup of brokers, banks and title companies all taking their share before ownership is finally transferred. Now imagine a version of that process where the deed moves securely in minutes through a verified digital ledger, with fewer intermediaries and clearer accountability.
That’s the potential of blockchain-based tokenization. It’s not just about putting assets online; it’s about rethinking how trust is established and maintained. Instead of banks, governments or corporations acting as scorekeepers, some of that trust could be embedded directly in code—transparent, verifiable and faster to confirm.
And real estate may be just the beginning. If something as traditional as a property deed can be tokenized, the same approach could eventually extend to the broader flow of capital across global markets.
The Original Trust Builders
For generations, intermediaries have been the scaffolding of commerce. Title companies verified deeds. Banks cleared transfers. Payment networks kept merchants solvent. Insurers pooled capital to help communities recover. Escrow accounts ensured that bad actors couldn’t simply walk away with the money.
These middlemen were not obstacles but enablers—the original builders of trust. They allowed strangers to trade, invest and build together with confidence.
From Suits To Smart Contracts
Now the rules are changing, and tokenization flips the script. Where banking once used “tokenization” as a Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standard, today, it means something radically different: blockchain-based settlement, where “trust me” is replaced with verifiable proof in code.
Take real estate, for example. With tokenization, a property deed becomes a secure digital token and a smart contract can transfer ownership instantly. No delays, no middlemen and no need for title insurance because a tokenized deed cannot be forged or double-spent. Companies like RedSwan are already proving this model as a marketplace, tokenizing hundreds of millions in commercial real estate. And it’s not just the market moving, regulators are too. In Luxembourg, authorities were among the first to approve tokenized securities, signaling how traditional finance is embracing this shift. Together, these examples show tokenization moving from theory to practice, laying the groundwork for trillions in assets to become more liquid, transparent and accessible.
In finance, the same transformation is underway. Banks and clearinghouses still need days to settle transactions, while decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms enable lending and borrowing of token-based assets securely and in real time. Banking giant JPMorgan has embraced this shift with Onyx and JPM Coin, enabling direct blockchain-based settlement between clients, and just this last June, with JPMD, a deposit token that digitizes commercial bank money as an alternative to stablecoins. As McKinsey’s research on tokenized cash makes clear, next-generation payments aren’t a distant vision; they are here now.
The creative world tells a similar story. For decades, artists collected crumbs while labels took the loaf. NFTs have rewritten that dynamic, paying royalties automatically on every resale. Platforms such as Tune.fm are proving that musicians can own their value chain.
The Middleman Makeover
So does this mean middlemen are dead? Hardly. They’re just actively evolving. Tokenization is unbundling their traditional roles, stripping inefficiencies and opening up opportunities higher up the value chain.
Title companies can join blockchain platforms to verify tokenized deeds. Banks can reposition themselves as trusted guardians of digital assets and extend credit against them. Even SWIFT, once the poster child of old-school settlement, is piloting tokenized cross-border payments. These players are not extinct. They are evolving.
Of course, the path forward will not be seamless. Incumbents have billions invested in legacy systems, and the regulatory framework for tokenized assets is still under construction. Blind faith in code without human oversight can also invite fraud or compliance risks. But these challenges are a call to adapt, not an excuse to cling to the past.
The Power Shift
Tokenization is a strategic mandate, already reshaping how value, ownership and trust work. It’s not a distant trend. Leaders can no longer afford to watch from the sidelines. The question now isn’t if they should act, but how to adapt.
Think of it like moving from paper maps to GPS. The destination, growth and trust remain the same, but the tools and visibility have completely changed.
As you explore this space, ask yourself: What parts of our business could benefit from more transparency or efficiency through tokenization? Where might the risks outweigh the rewards? How will our role evolve when trust is coded into the system itself?
Hello Trust Revolution
Tokenization isn’t just a technological upgrade; it represents a gradual redefinition of trust in commerce. The shift won’t erase intermediaries, but it will change how they create and capture value. In this sense, it’s less a revolution against the old system and more an evolution within it—one that rebalances the relationship between institutions, individuals and the infrastructure of trust itself.
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