The world of finance is shifting under our feet, and it’s not just tech startups making waves. Big financial institutions, the ones managing colossal amounts of money, are now seriously embracing digital assets. They are moving past hesitant experiments to make these assets a core part of their plans.
A new report from State Street, a global financial services giant, paints a clear picture of this change. It shows that almost 60% of top institutional executives plan to increase their investments in digital assets within the next year. This move is a major push for tokenization and the use of Blockchain technology across the globe.
It’s important to remember these aren’t just everyday investors. The study included senior executives from asset management firms worldwide. For them, digital assets are no longer fringe ideas. They are now central to how the financial sector will grow and modernize its technology. The report, part of State Street’s 2025 global research on digital assets and technology, and reviewed by Cryptopolitan, predicts a significant doubling of institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies in the next three years. This shows growing comfort with both tokenized products and systems built on Blockchain.
A Strategic Leap for Institutions
Joerg Ambrosius, who leads Investment Services at State Street, sees this trend as a new chapter. “The speed at which new technologies are being adopted is remarkable,” he said. “Institutional investors have gone from just trying things out to using digital assets as a strategic tool for growth, efficiency, and fresh ideas.”
The report highlights that this energy isn’t just focused on popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). A lot of attention is now on tokenizing private assets, bonds, fixed income, and other assets that have historically been hard to trade quickly.
Tokenization and the Hunt for Liquidity
Research suggests that private equity and private fixed income will be the first sectors to see big changes. Investors in these areas want to make processes smoother and improve how easily assets can be bought or sold. State Street found that most executives expect between 10% and 24% of their portfolios to be tokenized by 2030. The main reasons behind this push are greater transparency, faster operations, and lower costs.
More than 52% of investors want a clearer view of their holdings. Another 39% are looking for quicker trading, and 32% aim to cut regulatory compliance expenses. Nearly half of those surveyed believe these innovations could save them over 40% on costs. These savings largely come from better transparency and automation.
Internal Operations Catch the Wave
This digital shift isn’t just about what’s in a portfolio. How companies run their day-to-day business is also changing. Currently, 40% of institutions have a dedicated team or business unit just for digital assets. On top of that, one in three firms says Blockchain is already a key part of their overall transformation strategy.
Donna Milrod, State Street’s Chief Product Officer, explained the internal changes. She noted, “We’re seeing our clients reshape how they operate around digital assets. Many are forming specialized teams, and almost one in five plans to do so soon.” Milrod added that the change is strategic, not just technical, covering everything from tokenized bonds and stocks to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins.
Beyond Blockchain: AI and Quantum Computing
The report also points to the rise of other technologies like generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing. These are starting to directly impact how investments are managed. Over 50% of executives believe these technologies will have an even bigger impact than Blockchain or tokenization on future financial operations.
However, most don’t see them as competitors. Instead, they view them as helpers. These technologies are expected to speed up how quickly digital assets are adopted and how well they perform within the institutional financial system.
From Experiment to Essential Infrastructure
State Street’s study makes it clear: the institutional market is no longer just watching the crypto industry from the sidelines. Digital assets and tokenized products have become a top priority. They are crucial to plans for modernizing and staying competitive around the world.
Looking ahead, the next five years could solidify tokenization and distributed ledger technologies as core parts of the financial system. This will finally bring together the worlds of traditional banking and digital finance in a big way.