Tokens, a bridge between traditional and decentralised finance

The two projects send an important signal for the transfer of traditional finance onto blockchain. Globally, too, projects have sprung up that indicate how tokenization may indeed represent the new phase of finance: JpMorgan has launched a money market fund on Ethereum, while Blackrock's Buidl fund has grown in the first half of 2025 from $500 million to almost $3 billion. Meanwhile, the Nyse is working on a platform for 24/7 trading of tokenized shares and, in Europe, Boerse Stuttgart Digital has introduced a solution for the settlement of digital assets. Data from the Blockchain & Web 3 Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, presented today, points to the acceleration of the technology: last year 101 new projects of these instruments were launched to a total of 156 globally, two-thirds of which focused on financial instruments.

But the technology's potential is not yet reflected in the number and quality of projects: 'The supply chain in the world of finance is very long and it is not always easy to bring the entire process onto blockchain, it is limited to individual parts: it is therefore a matter of rethinking the entire value chain, involving all players, even the most timid ones. In this area, the complex regulatory framework has adapted to the experiments, but it is necessary to verify that there are no shortcomings and discrepancies in order to reassure market players in moving in this area,' comments Observatory director Valeria Portale. In Italy, the action of the big players in the finance sector is undoubtedly fundamental to open up the market by involving the other players, who often stop at planning. The complexity of implementation requires the integration of different players. Everyone is called upon to play their part, and the regulatory authorities have the task of not blocking valuable projects and thus favouring innovation'.

And this is also the intention of UniCredit, which considers the two projects to be just the beginning of a path that can continue further by exploiting the expertise born within the Italian blockchain ecosystem: 'They were also intended to test the market, verify the reliability and scalability of the technology, and form the group's internal mindset,' explains Alessio Sulpizi, Advisory & Financing Solutions at the institute. 'We believe in this technology and therefore aim to acquire the experience to be a leader. We have started with a minibond and a structured bond, but we do not set ourselves any limits: our long-term goal is to evaluate the tokenization of further asset classes and other investment products, obviously always assessing the benefits for clients'.

"The two transactions carried out with UniCredit can work as a flywheel for the market and, as a technology provider, we have already seen concrete interest from other large operators. We have shown that it is a tool available not only for institutional investors, but also for SMEs and private investors, and perhaps tomorrow it could be extended to retail, perhaps with customised products for different clients," confirms Tommaso Cattaneo, business development of BlockInvest, the operator that collaborated on the tokenization of the instruments from a technological point of view: "The opportunity that tokenization offers is to make markets and instruments liquid that today are not, with the optimisation of the management of all processes, with secure and transparent transfers.

Simplification can therefore also be of great value for traditional finance processes. Assogestioni has long been at the forefront of operating the native digitisation of fund shares and, in the future, realising funds that invest in digital assets, so as to maximise the efficiency potential of technology. "The real frontier of innovation," comments Roberta D'Apice, Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs at Assogestioni, "is not only to bring traditional investors onto the blockchain, but to bring regulated instruments - such as fund shares - into contexts where digital liquidity already operates, preserving the legal and regulatory protections inherent to asset management. Indeed, without compatible instruments, this liquidity risks developing outside European supervised circuits, with a direct impact on the competitiveness of the Union's products."

The risk is, therefore, to miss the train of a business with enormous potential with negative repercussions for the sector's economy. But infrastructure is also needed. "For these initiatives to become scalable, we need greater cohesion with the regulator on the aspects that are still open, the creation of a secondary market for these instruments and, above all, on-chain cash to make the entire process digital," continues UniCredit's Colombo.

The bank's two projects could thus have been concluded at the same time in the transaction if they had had a blockchain-ready currency at their disposal, but instead had to resort to traditional tools.

"What is missing today is 'cash on-chain', the possibility of having a type of currency that interacts efficiently with the blockchain, covering the entire process that already starts natively digital," reiterates Cattaneo of BlockInvest. It is therefore no coincidence that UniCredit is one of the promoters, together with Banca Sella, of the Qivalis project, which brings together a dozen European banks to create a euro stablecoin in order to have a digital instrument that avoids having to switch from the dollar-linked ones that are being developed in the wake of Donald Trump's policies.

If stablecoins stand to be the presentable face of cryptocurrencies with the link to fiat currencies, tokenization aims to become the bridge between traditional and decentralised finance with its efficiencies and potential. Then there is also politics blowing in the same direction: 'Tokenisation is also becoming very topical for the crypto world,' Conso points out. 'The increase in taxation on investments in cryptoassets with the Budget Law ends up discouraging direct holding, shifting investors' attention towards products such as ETFs and Etp, which are nothing more than a synthetic representation of cryptoassets.

So there is a rumour in financial circles that these instruments may also be listed on the Italian stock exchange in the near future.