IMF: The Future of Tokenization Depends on Policy Choices; Three Types of Settlement Assets Including Stablecoins May Coexist

Odaily, Tobias Adrian, Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stated that as assets migrate to shared digital ledgers, policy choices regarding the monetary system, market infrastructure, and legal frameworks will determine whether tokenization strengthens the integration of the financial system or leads to further fragmentation.

The tokenized economy is forming three types of settlement assets: tokenized bank deposits, stablecoins, and tokenized central bank reserves. Tokenization is not just about faster payments or programmable assets; it involves migrating financial assets and liabilities to a unified ledger, compressing execution, clearing, and settlement into a synchronized process driven by software. This shift may also transfer risks from the balance sheets of traditional intermediaries to platforms, code, and infrastructure providers. (The Block)