Decentralized Finance and Tokenization Growth Still Disappoints: JPMorgan

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The maturation of decentralized concern (DeFi) and plus tokenization continues to underwhelm, JPMorgan's Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said successful a probe study Wednesday, citing the stagnant betterment since the 2022 crypto winter.

Total Value Locked (TVL) successful DeFi remains beneath 2021 highs, with astir enactment inactive driven by crypto-native and retail users, the study noted.

Institutional adoption has lagged contempt the improvement of compliance-ready infrastructure, specified arsenic permissioned lending pools and KYC-enabled vaults, Panigirtzoglou wrote.

Major barriers remain. Institutions look regulatory fragmentation, ineligible uncertainty astir on-chain assets, and concerns astir astute declaration security, the analysts wrote. As a result, astir organization crypto enactment remains concentrated successful bitcoin (BTC).

Tokenization has besides struggled to deliver. While the assemblage has seen immoderate traction, with $25 cardinal successful tokenized assets, $8 cardinal successful tokenized bonds, and increasing adoption successful wealth marketplace funds, astir initiatives stay small, illiquid, oregon experimental, the slope said. Prominent efforts similar BlackRock’s BUIDL and Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) level connection ratio gains, but deficiency scale.

Panigirtzoglou noted that successful backstage markets, tokenization is heavy concentrated among a fewer players and lacks meaningful secondary marketplace activity.

Many accepted investors stay skeptical, particularly fixed blockchain’s transparency, a drawback for institutions that favour opaque trading venues similar acheronian pools, according to the report. The continued emergence of off-exchange equity trading illustrates this preference.

Despite regulatory initiatives similar the SEC’s “Project Crypto,” Panigirtzoglou doubts whether regularisation changes unsocial tin flooded the deeper issue: accepted concern doesn’t yet spot a wide request for blockchain.

Fintech has already improved velocity and ratio wrong the existent system, reducing the urgency to follow tokenized alternatives, the study added.

Read more: SEC Chief Paul Atkin's Project Crypto Flying Under Radar Amid Market Selloff: Bernstein

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