Digital Assets and Tokenization (AI Translation)
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专栏作家 邹传伟
Columnist Zou Chuanwei
数字资产（Digital Asset）在国内外都备受关注。要理解数字资产，必须理解代币化（Tokenization）；要理解代币（Token），离不开对账户的理解。从账户到代币，是支付与市场基础设施（PMI，Payment and Market Infrastructures）的一个范式转变，由此形成数字资产这样一个丰富复杂的新金融生态，具有重大的金融研究价值。
Digital assets have attracted significant attention both domestically and internationally. To understand digital assets, one must first grasp the concept of tokenization; to understand tokens, it is essential to have a clear understanding of accounts. The evolution from accounts to tokens marks a paradigm shift in payment and market infrastructures (PMI), giving rise to the rich and complex new financial ecosystem of digital assets—an area of major value for financial research.
一、从账户到代币
I. From Accounts to Tokens
李扬教授2023年在《货币的本质是信用关系》中指出：“最早、最系统揭示银行及其账户在货币体系乃至整个经济体系中的地位和作用的，是我们非常熟悉的宏观经济学的奠基人凯恩斯……凯恩斯系统阐述了银行存款作为货币的本质，银行账户作为真正交易中介的本质，进而揭示了货币创造的秘密”，“从银行和账户角度来分析货币有一个明显的好处，就是凸显了货币的支付功能，并揭示了货币的这个功能是在一系列相互连通的资产负债表系统中，通过账户的增减和移转实现的”，“货币的秘密、货币的功能、货币的‘创造’和‘消灭’，深藏于银行资产负债表和银行账户之中”，“遗憾的是，对于银行账户的全面分析，以及对于支付清算作为金融体系核心功能的分析，在美式金融学教材和中国的金融教科书中，都是语焉不详的”。
In 2023, Professor Li Yang wrote in “The Essence of Money Is a Credit Relationship”: “The earliest and most systematic exposition of the role and status of banks and their accounts within the monetary system—and indeed the entire economic system—was given by the renowned founder of macroeconomics, John Maynard Keynes. Keynes offered a thorough explanation of the essence of bank deposits as money and the true nature of bank accounts as intermediaries in transactions, thereby uncovering the secret of money creation.” He elaborated, “Analyzing money from the perspective of banks and accounts has an obvious advantage: it highlights the payment function of money and reveals how this function is realized through increases, decreases, and transfers of accounts within a network of interconnected balance sheet systems.” Li continued, “The secrets of money, its functions, and its ‘creation’ and ‘destruction’ are deeply embedded within banks’ balance sheets and bank accounts. Unfortunately, a comprehensive analysis of bank accounts as well as the examination of payments and settlement—the core functions of the financial system—are lacking in both American financial textbooks and Chinese financial teaching materials.”
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- Digital assets emerge from the tokenization of value, representing a paradigm shift from account-based to token-based financial infrastructures, blending ownership, income, and usage rights.
- As of July 2024, stablecoins reached a $261.1 billion market cap (with USDT at 62%), and China's digital RMB recorded 7.3 trillion yuan in pilot transactions; tokenized assets' application ranges from CBDCs to securities and RWAs.
- Tokenization offers programmability, cross-border P2P transactions, and financial inclusivity, while also posing challenges in regulation, asset verification, and risk management.
Digital assets have garnered significant attention both domestically and internationally, with their understanding hinging on the concept of tokenization. To comprehend tokens, it is essential to first understand accounts, as the journey from accounts to tokens marks a paradigmatic shift in Payment and Market Infrastructures (PMI), fostering a complex new financial ecosystem with substantial research value in finance. [para. 1]
**From Accounts to Tokens:** Drawing on Professor Li Yang's 2023 insights, banks and their accounts are foundational to the monetary system, with accounts serving as essential vehicles for holding, trading, clearing, and settling assets—except for cash, which is the only form not account-based. Tokens, digital certificates on a blockchain, exhibit features akin to and surpassing cash: (1) property-like features (ownership via private keys and peer-to-peer settlement), (2) openness and controllable anonymity (anyone can participate without institutional approval), (3) programmability via smart contracts, (4) inseparability of messaging and value flow, and (5) natural cross-border capability. Smart contracts are inseparable from tokens, enabling functionalities such as issuance, transfer, and destruction. Blockchain value interactions occur as either information (off-chain data proofs) or value (tokenization). [para. 2]
**From Tokenization to Digital Assets:** Tokenization allows assets—financial or physical—to be digitized as tokens, resulting in digital assets with novel risk-return characteristics and regulatory challenges. Three principal types include: (a) ownership tokenization (e.g., CBDC, stablecoins, tokenized securities, requiring a trusted issuer with 1:1 reserve and redemption mechanisms subject to audit and disclosure), (b) income-right tokenization (future income-based tokens, representing a share of asset cash flow but not ownership, considered securities in many jurisdictions and mainly traded among qualified investors), and (c) usage-right tokenization (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum, representing usage rights of the respective network). Regulatory definitions vary: the Basel Committee, the 2022 Biden Executive Order, and the 2025 Trump Executive Order all provide broad yet evolving definitions, but all commonly equate digital assets to tokenized value. Key differentiators include the issuer (central bank, commercial entity, algorithmic), the value basis (full/partial/no reserves), and legal status. All digital assets share openness, partial anonymity, peer-to-peer exchange, and cross-border liquidity, but also pose regulatory challenges (e.g., money laundering, evasions, tax issues). [para. 3][para. 4][para. 5][para. 6][para. 7][para. 8]
**Tokenization in Practice:** The "rational vision" for tokenization envisages all assets in token form, accessible and tradable by anyone, anywhere, at any time, facilitated by programmable smart contracts. Concepts like the "Unified Ledger" of the BIS or the "Finternet" highlight aspirations for unified, user-centric digital finance. In practice, currency tokenization has advanced most rapidly: by July 2024, 94% of surveyed central banks worked on CBDC projects, with China's retail CBDC (digital yuan) facilitating ¥7.3 trillion ($1 trillion) in transactions. Stablecoin circulation reached $261.1 billion globally, mostly USD-pegged, with high transaction volumes. Tokens have also been implemented for securities (e.g., NASDAQ's Linq, World Bank's Bond-i), post-trade processing (e.g., DTCC, D7), and bond issuance (e.g., Hong Kong’s tokenized green bonds, BlackRock’s BUDL). Recent trends include the rapid tokenization of government bonds and money market products and experiments with RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization, though projections (e.g., BCG's $16 trillion estimate by 2030) may be optimistic. Not all asset types are ideally suited or justified for tokenization. [para. 9][para. 10][para. 11][para. 12][para. 13][para. 14]
**Implications for Financial Research:** Tokenization revolutionizes the foundations of capital intermediation and has become the most crucial innovation in PMI, affecting currency, payments, and securities settlement. Its study offers unique insights by stripping away layers of modern financial "veils" to expose core principles—analogous to particle collisions revealing fundamental matter properties. Tokenization demands reevaluation of concepts like identity, ledgers, privacy, and market competition, and raises new risk and regulatory issues. The field’s rapid practical advancements, driven by central banks and technology firms, create a global experimental laboratory, yielding rich research resources—particularly from BIS reports—for those exploring digital assets and tokenization. [para. 15][para. 16][para. 17]
- Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation
- The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is mentioned in the article as having proposed principles for the post-trade processing of tokenized securities in 2019. This highlights DTCC's role in developing frameworks for the evolving digital asset landscape.
- Credit Suisse
- In 2021, Credit Suisse, alongside Nomura Securities' brokerage Instinet, utilized Paxos settlement services to achieve "T+0" settlement and Delivery versus Payment (DvP) for US-listed stocks on the blockchain. This highlights Credit Suisse's early engagement in leveraging blockchain technology for securities settlement.
- Nomura Securities
- Nomura Securities, a Japanese financial services group, was involved in an experiment to settle US-listed stock trades on the blockchain with Credit Suisse. This collaboration, using Paxos settlement services, achieved "T+0" settlement and Delivery versus Payment (DvP), demonstrating advancements in tokenized securities.
- Deutsche Börse Group
- Deutsche Börse Group launched D7, a post-trade processing platform, in 2021. This platform digitalizes post-trade services, showcasing the company's engagement with tokenization and digital asset infrastructure development.
- Boston Consulting Group
- In 2022, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published a research report predicting that the tokenization of illiquid assets globally would reach $16 trillion by 2030. However, the article suggests that this forecast might be overly optimistic, given the actual progress in tokenizing Real World Assets (RWA).
- Robinhood
- The article mentions Robinhood in the context of its recent experiments in tokenizing US stocks. Robinhood's goal is to use the openness of blockchain technology to allow investors outside the United States to easily invest in US stocks. This move highlights a trend in securities tokenization, shifting from post-trade processing to the holding and trading aspects of securities.
- 2015：
- Nasdaq Stock Market launched Linq, a blockchain-based platform for private equity trading.
- 2017：
- The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) proposed an analytical framework for blockchain applications in payments, clearing, and settlement.
- 2018：
- The World Bank issued Bond-i, the world’s first bond created and managed entirely via blockchain.
- 2019：
- U.S. Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) introduced post-trade processing principles for tokenized securities.
- 2020：
- BIS discussed the future of securities settlement systems based on tokenized securities.
- June 2021：
- Basel Committee released a consultative document titled "Prudential Treatment of Cryptoasset Exposures," providing a definition for digital assets.
- 2021：
- Credit Suisse and Instinet completed same-day ('T+0') settlement and delivery versus payment (DvP) on the blockchain for U.S.-listed stocks through Paxos Settlement Service.
- 2021：
- Deutsche Börse Group announced the launch of D7, a digital post-trade processing platform.
- March 2022：
- U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” defining digital assets.
- 2022：
- The Boston Consulting Group projected in a report that the global tokenization of illiquid assets could reach $16 trillion by 2030.
- 2023：
- Professor Li Yang wrote 'The Essence of Money Is a Credit Relationship.'
- 2023：
- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) introduced the concept of a “Unified Ledger.”
- 2023：
- A BIS survey found that 94% of central banks are engaged in work related to CBDCs.
- 2023：
- Hong Kong SAR government issued its first batch of tokenized green bonds.
- 2024：
- BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens and Nandan Nilekani proposed the 'Finternet,' an advanced programmable financial system concept.
- 2024：
- BlackRock launched BUDL, a tokenized money market fund, which has a market value approaching $3 billion.
- As of the end of July 2024：
- The cumulative transaction value of China’s digital yuan in pilot regions reached 7.3 trillion yuan.
- By July 21, 2024：
- The market value of stablecoins stood at $261.1 billion, with USDT accounting for 62%.
- January 2025：
- U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” defining digital assets.
- July 11, 2025：
- The author gave remarks at the Shanghai Financial Think Tank Joint Working Conference.
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