Behind the Curtain: The Conversations Actually Shaping Tokenised Finance
Updated: Oct 7
There are events that generate press releases. And then there are the conversations that actually move markets forward, held away from the noise, where the people building real infrastructure say what they genuinely think.
The recent Edwin Coe LLP digital assets roundtable was the latter.
Convened alongside Unblocked and moderated by Digital Bytes, the session brought together senior representatives from the London Stock Exchange Group, S&P Global, Ownera and Swarm. Not a panel show. A genuine exchange among people doing this work in real time. Here is a distillation of what was in the room.
The question has changed
The room agreed on something important: tokenisation has left the experimental phase. It is no longer being tested in isolated pilots or evaluated as a future possibility. It is increasingly part of the operational infrastructure of modern finance.
Tokenised US Treasuries and money market funds have surpassed $10 billion in market capitalisation. Crypto-native firms, including Circle Internet Group, have moved ahead of traditional incumbents in specific pockets of on-chain Treasury issuance. The competitive advantage in finance, the group observed, is no longer solely about balance sheet strength. It is increasingly about distribution, programmability and user experience.
The question has evolved. It is no longer whether tokenisation will reshape markets. It is who will control the infrastructure underpinning tokenised finance when it does.
Where the traction actually is
The clearest early wins are operational, not speculative. Collateral mobility, intraday liquidity management and tokenised money market funds are delivering measurable efficiency gains for institutions. Corporate treasury management is emerging as a practical use case, particularly for cross-border cash management where stablecoins and tokenised funds reduce friction.
This matters because it reframes the opportunity for early-stage founders. The value is not in creating digital versions of existing products. It is in solving the infrastructure problems that sit underneath them.
The cash layer question
One of the more nuanced discussions centred on the competing forms of digital money emerging in parallel. CBDCs, tokenised bank deposits and stablecoins are not converging on a single winner. They are coexisting, each suited to different use cases and contexts.
Stablecoins are currently achieving the fastest adoption, driven by their programmability and interoperability across digital asset markets. Tokenised deposits may come to dominate within closed banking ecosystems. CBDCs bring institutional trust and wholesale settlement utility. What is emerging is a layered architecture for digital money, one that is more complex and more interesting than the either/or debates that tend to dominate coverage.
The structural blockers remain real
The panel was clear-eyed about what is still in the way. Interoperability between platforms and systems, legal certainty across jurisdictions, settlement infrastructure and data standards remain the most significant barriers to scale. The debate between permissioned and permissionless market structures is unresolved, with different jurisdictions and institutions taking divergent approaches.
Digital identity, trust frameworks and operational resilience were also flagged as foundational requirements the market has not yet fully solved. As atomic settlement and real-time asset transfers become more common, the importance of robust identity infrastructure will only grow.
The UK's window
The conversation noted that the UK is moving from intent to implementation. The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, now law, is a meaningful signal. The anticipated cryptoasset regulatory framework, expected to take shape over the coming months, is another.
Regulatory clarity is increasingly the primary factor attracting capital and institutional infrastructure to a jurisdiction. The UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland have moved faster. The UK has the foundations. The question is whether it converts them into speed.
A word on Edwin Coe
Edwin Coe LLP is not the largest name in legal services. It is, however, one of the most consistently active in creating the spaces where conversations like this actually happen and I know this from experience because I have sat in on a number of them.
Their Digital Assets and Tech team has been convening practitioners, technologists and builders around digital finance well before it became a mainstream priority for the profession. As a mid-sized firm operating at the frontier rather than watching from a distance, they have built a quiet reputation for practical, commercially grounded advice in an area where many larger firms are still finding their footing.
For founders navigating this space, the most useful legal counsel is often not the biggest name. It is the one already operating inside the conversations that matter.
This post draws on the published roundtable recap from Edwin Coe LLP, republished with kind permission. Synthesis and editorial framing by TokenisingStartups.
How we got here
The UK foundations the roundtable referred to were built in stages. The Law Commission published its report on digital assets in June 2023 and a draft bill followed in July 2024. The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025. It confirms that, in the law of England and Wales, a thing can attract personal property rights even if it is neither a physical thing nor a traditional legal claim, and leaves the courts to shape that third category. The Law Commission's work centred on crypto-tokens and NFTs.
On the market infrastructure side, the Digital Securities Sandbox, run by the Bank of England and the FCA, came into force on 8 January 2024 and runs until 8 January 2029. It lets firms test settlement and trading of tokenised shares, bonds, money market instruments and fund units under modified rules. The cryptoasset framework the roundtable expected has since moved forward: the FCA published final rules in mid 2026, and the regime is expected to apply from 25 October 2027.
What it means for UK founders
The roundtable's view, that value sits in infrastructure rather than digital copies of existing products, lines up with how the UK rules are built. The Digital Securities Sandbox is aimed at firms that settle, record or trade digital securities, not at companies issuing tokens to raise money. A founder building custody, settlement, identity or data tooling for that market is building for regulated customers, and should expect long sales cycles and detailed due diligence on resilience and controls.
The timetable matters too. The FCA's authorisation gateway for the new cryptoasset regime opened on 30 September 2026, and firms seeking authorisation from day one are expected to apply by 28 February 2027. A startup whose product involves trading, arranging, safeguarding or staking cryptoassets for UK customers has a fixed window to plan for. Founders may want to take professional advice on whether their activities fall inside the regime well before that date.
The property law change is quieter but useful. Clearer property status for digital assets helps in custody arrangements, security over assets and insolvency, which are the questions institutional customers ask first.
Key facts at a glance
Law Commission digital assets report: June 2023.
Digital Securities Sandbox: in force from 8 January 2024 to 8 January 2029.
Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025: Royal Assent on 2 December 2025.
FCA cryptoasset authorisation gateway: opened 30 September 2026, with a day-one application deadline of 28 February 2027.
New UK cryptoasset regime: expected to apply from 25 October 2027.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Who took part in the Edwin Coe LLP digital assets roundtable?
The roundtable was convened by Edwin Coe LLP alongside Unblocked and moderated by Digital Bytes. It brought together senior representatives from the London Stock Exchange Group, S&P Global, Ownera and Swarm.
Where is tokenisation delivering real results for institutions?
The roundtable identified collateral mobility, intraday liquidity management and tokenised money market funds as delivering measurable efficiency gains. Corporate treasury management, particularly cross-border cash management, is emerging as a practical use case.
Will stablecoins, tokenised deposits or CBDCs win as digital money?
The roundtable view was that they are coexisting rather than converging on a single winner. Stablecoins are seeing the fastest adoption, tokenised deposits may dominate within closed banking ecosystems, and CBDCs bring institutional trust and wholesale settlement utility.
What are the main barriers to scaling tokenised finance?
Interoperability between platforms, legal certainty across jurisdictions, settlement infrastructure and data standards were named as the most significant barriers. Digital identity, trust frameworks and operational resilience were also flagged as unsolved foundations.
How large is the tokenised US Treasury and money market fund market?
Tokenised US Treasuries and money market funds have surpassed $10 billion in market capitalisation, according to the roundtable discussion.
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