Goldman Sachs Tokenisation Remarks Leave Founders Waiting on the Rails

Goldman Sachs tokenisation plans were described as a growth opportunity rather than a threat on the bank's third quarter earnings call last week. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley made similar remarks that same week. None of the three described a product for private company shares.

A bank trading floor seen through rain-streaked glass at dawn.

What the Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley executives said

Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon said tokenisation, decentralised finance and prediction markets could expand the bank's trading activity rather than erode it, and compared the shift with the move to electronic stock trading. He also said activity so far was "small and at the margin".

Wells Fargo chief financial officer Michael Santomassimo said the bank already uses tokenised deposits for cross-border payments, with funds reaching beneficiary accounts in two minutes or less. A tokenised deposit is an ordinary bank deposit recorded as a token on a digital ledger, so it stays a claim on the bank. Santomassimo added: "This is in production, by the way, and it's small volume so far."

Morgan Stanley chief financial officer Sharon Yeshaya said moving assets would become faster and easier, and that "you will need advice". No executive gave a revenue estimate, and Morgan Stanley announced no new product.

What Deutsche Bank Research adds on DTCC and market infrastructure

Deutsche Bank published a summary article dated 16 October 2026 that draws together three Deutsche Bank Research Institute reports. They are "Capitalism and the dollar" by Mallika Sachdeva, dated 4 September 2026, "Tokenised money and the future of FX" by Rohini Grover, dated 10 September 2026, and "Asset Tokenization 101" by Marion Laboure and Camilla Siazon, dated 16 September 2026.

The summary reports Laboure, a senior strategist, as arguing that tokenisation will modernise financial infrastructure rather than eliminate intermediaries. It says adoption is spreading from Treasury products and money market funds into collateral management, private credit and equities, while tokenised assets remain small against traditional markets. It cites no market size or growth figure, and it names interoperability, liquidity, legal frameworks and governance as open obstacles.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the US securities depository, shows what that modernisation looks like in practice. An earlier report on its July pilot recorded live tokenised trading of Russell 1000 stocks and US Treasuries from 14 July 2026, with more than 50 firms involved. Goldman Sachs took part in a half-day run of a DTCC tokenisation service in July.

Tokenised private company shares sit outside every bank plan quoted

Sorting the uses named above by asset gives a reasonably clear perspective on developments and recent advances. Goldman Sachs is talking about trading activity, Wells Fargo about deposits, Morgan Stanley about moving existing assets, DTCC about large listed stocks and Treasuries, and Deutsche Bank about Treasury products, money market funds, collateral and private credit. Every one concerns an asset that already sits with a regulated bank or depository. Tokenised private company shares appear in none of them.

That matches the earlier findings we have seen. The Barclays and PwC report of 9 July 2026 put the UK gain at up to GBP 33 billion a year by 2035 but named wholesale markets, corporate bonds, private markets and infrastructure finance as priorities, not startup equity. Morgan Stanley's April wallet plans and Bank of America's July appointments followed the same pattern of banks organising around existing client assets.

The practical reading is that the bank route to tokenised equity for a founder will run through the same intermediaries who sell advice. Yeshaya's "you will need advice" describes distribution as much as technology. For a founder without a warm network, the question is whether that advice reaches a seed round at all. An earlier analysis of the UK tokenisation taskforce and startup capital covers the domestic side of that question.

The counter argument carries some weight too. These executives are describing their own businesses, volumes are admittedly small, and infrastructure built for liquid assets is also the base on which private shares could later run. Nothing in the sources rules that out. What they do not show is a bank, a timetable or a venue for it.

A founder raising now can ask an adviser three things before agreeing to any tokenised structure: who holds the legal register of the shares, which regulated venue would let investors sell them, and what happens to investor protections if the platform fails.

This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.

Key takeaways

• Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley described tokenisation as a growth opportunity on their third quarter earnings calls, October 2026.

• Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon said activity so far is small and at the margin, and no executive gave a revenue estimate.

• Deutsche Bank Research summarised three reports from September 2026 arguing that tokenisation modernises existing intermediaries rather than removing them.

• None of the bank uses quoted involves private company shares, so founders should expect any bank route to tokenised equity to arrive later and through advisers.