Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley are approaching tokenization as a potential source of new business rather than as an immediate threat to their established operations. Their executives used third-quarter earnings calls to outline different opportunities: expanded trading activity, faster cross-border payments and greater demand for wealth-management advice.
According to CoinDesk, the banks did not provide revenue forecasts for tokenization, and their comments indicated that some applications remain at an early stage. Tokenization refers to representing financial or real-world assets on a blockchain. In practice, it can allow assets such as bonds, funds, equities or commodities to be issued or transferred in digital form, potentially enabling trading and settlement outside traditional market schedules and processes.
Goldman sees trading potential
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon rejected the idea that tokenization, decentralized finance and prediction markets must necessarily reduce the firm’s trading revenue. Instead, he compared the current shift with the move toward electronic stock trading roughly five decades ago. That change raised concerns about traditional trading desks, but Goldman adapted and its equities business expanded.
Solomon said tokenization could similarly generate more products, increase market activity, reach new clients and widen distribution channels. The potential opportunity, in his view, is not limited to replacing existing trading activity; it could also expand the range of markets and services that the bank can support.
Goldman has been developing digital-asset infrastructure for several years. Its GS DAP platform for tokenized assets was built as early as 2022, and the bank has worked on tokenizing bonds, money-market funds and real estate.
The bank also took part in a half-day test in July of a tokenization service operated by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a major provider of infrastructure for U.S. securities markets. Goldman is assessing how such a service could be used more broadly. Possible benefits identified by Solomon included lower costs, automated transactions and easier trading.
He also stressed that the business is still limited. Goldman’s tokenization activity so far, he said, is small and marginal, meaning the wider commercial impact has yet to emerge.
Wells Fargo focuses on payments
Wells Fargo’s emphasis is on moving money. The bank is already processing cross-border payments through tokenized deposits, with funds reaching beneficiary accounts in two minutes or less.
Chief Financial Officer Michael Santomassimo said the system is in production, although volumes remain small. A tokenized deposit is a digital representation of a bank deposit that can be transferred using blockchain-based infrastructure. The approach is distinct from treating tokenization simply as a way to create digital versions of investable assets: Wells Fargo is testing it for payment flows.
The technology could be particularly relevant to Wells Fargo’s international ambitions. The bank does not have as extensive an overseas branch network as some global competitors. Santomassimo said tokenized deposits could help it compete for more cross-border payment business without requiring the bank to build such a network.
Wells Fargo also identified other possible applications, including tokenized securities, tokenized real-world assets and crypto trading services for wealth-management clients. The bank did not give a timetable for introducing those offerings.
Morgan Stanley links faster transfers with advice
Morgan Stanley is examining tokenization primarily through its wealth-management and institutional-securities businesses. Chief Financial Officer Sharon Yeshaya argued that making it easier and faster for investors to move assets would not eliminate the need for professional guidance.
Her view is that a financial system in which assets can be transferred with fewer delays could create more occasions when clients need help deciding what to do with them. Morgan Stanley has been investing in digital capabilities in both of the relevant businesses, but Yeshaya did not announce a new tokenization product.
The three banks therefore see different routes to commercial value:
- Goldman Sachs is focused on trading, distribution and market activity.
- Wells Fargo is concentrating on cross-border payments and tokenized deposits.
- Morgan Stanley is highlighting advice as investors gain more flexibility in moving assets.
Together, the comments show how major banks are assessing tokenization across the financial system rather than treating it as a single product category. The technology may affect issuance, settlement, payments, trading and client relationships, but the banks’ own statements also make clear that adoption and transaction volumes remain limited in at least some areas.
Moneyiar market picture
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