Broaden Your Crypto View… 

Recent remarks from **U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, suggesting the U.S. financial system is moving on-chain, may ultimately prove one of the most consequential regulatory signals of this cycle—even if markets barely noticed at the time.

Beneath the muted price action sits a much larger reality. The U.S. financial system processes hundreds of trillions of dollars in value each year across securities issuance, trading, payments, and settlement. Bringing even a fraction of that activity onto blockchain rails represents a structural shift in how capital moves, clears, and settles.

This is not about speculative tokens or short-term narratives. It is about financial plumbing.

Core systems such as Treasury settlement, securities clearing, collateral movement, and stablecoin-based payments already push vast sums annually through legacy rails like Fedwire, DTCC, and correspondent banking networks. Tokenisation and on-chain settlement promise faster finality, reduced counterparty risk, lower operational costs, and global interoperability—benefits institutions care deeply about, even if retail markets do not yet reflect them.

Retail crypto investors, shaped by years of volatility, tend to focus on immediacy: price moves, narratives, and short-term returns for their “bags”. From that lens, Atkins’ comments can feel like a shrug—another person in a suit saying something.

Institutions, by contrast, are trained to recognise tidal shifts rather than day-to-day choppy waves. They understand that regulatory clarity, rule-making, and pilot programs come before capital deployment, and that once the rules of the road are finalised, capital moves with scale and force.

The Scale of What Is at Stake (U.S. Markets)

1. U.S. Treasury Market
   • The largest and most important capital market in the world
   • Includes bills, notes, bonds, and TIPS
   • Backbone of global risk-free pricing, collateral, and liquidity
   • Annual trading volume: hundreds of trillions
2. U.S. Equity Markets
   • NYSE, Nasdaq, and related exchanges
   • Largest equity market globally by capitalisation
   • Home to the world’s most liquid stocks and ETFs
   • Market cap: $60+ trillion
3. U.S. Corporate Bond Market
   • Investment-grade and high-yield debt
   • Primary funding source for U.S. corporations
   • Critical to pensions, insurers, and asset managers
   • Outstanding: $10+ trillion
4. U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Market
   • Agency (Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie) and non-agency MBS
   • Central to U.S. housing finance
   • Deeply integrated with Fed policy
   • Outstanding: $8–10 trillion
5. Municipal Bond Market
   • Outstanding: ~$4 trillion
6. U.S. Derivatives Markets
   • Futures, options, and swaps
   • Traded on CME, ICE, Cboe, and OTC markets
   • Notional value dwarfs all other markets
   • Annual notional turnover: quadrillions
7. Money Markets
   • T-bills, commercial paper, repo, money market funds
   • Core short-term funding markets
   • Foundation of daily liquidity
   • Central to Federal Reserve operations
8. Foreign Exchange (FX) Markets (USD-centric)
   • Daily global FX volume: $7+ trillion
9. Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) Market
   • Smaller than MBS, but systemically important
10. ETF & Fund Markets
    • Crucial for liquidity, price discovery, and asset allocation
    • Assets under management: $30+ trillion

That is where the opportunity lies today—and that is just the U.S. While America is one of the largest cogs in the global engine, finance is inherently international. It is unrealistic to assume one region gains efficiency and cost advantages while the rest of the world stands still. Competition ensures adoption spreads.

The current flat-to-down crypto market reflects impatience, not irrelevance. It is worth repeating: the current flat-to-down crypto market reflects impatience, not irrelevance.

This is a period to research which chains and tokens are being piloted, integrated, or partnered with institutions and infrastructure such as the DTCC, Fedwire, and ACH.

Positioning into protocol rails, settlement layers, and infrastructure likely to underpin tokenised, next-generation finance is akin to investing in highways before traffic arrives. When regulated capital begins flowing on-chain in earnest, it is unlikely to trickle—it will surge. By the time that surge is obvious in prices, much of the groundwork will already have been laid.