SCB 10X Says Tokenized Finance Era Has Begun, With Digital Assets Set to Become Core Infrastructure

Kaweewut Temphuwapat, chief executive officer of SCB 10X, the venture capital arm of Siam Commercial Bank, said a structural shift in finance has begun, driven by stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets.

Speaking in a keynote address at Southeast Asia Blockchain Week 2026 at Bangkok's Iconsiam on May 21, Kaweewut presented on “Building for Everyone: SCBX’s Journey From Digital Asset Infrastructure to the Future of Finance.” Blockchain is not a technology for a small group of investors, he said, but infrastructure aimed at expanding financial access. SCBX has spent the past decade preparing to build a financial system based on digital assets.

The global crypto market has already reached a new inflection point, he said. Total digital-asset market capitalization has surpassed $3 trillion, and about 560 million people worldwide use crypto wallets. Stablecoin transaction volumes have already exceeded those of Visa and Mastercard. Within the next two to three years, the tokenized-asset market will expand to about 10% of global gross domestic product, he added.

Kaweewut said sentiment across global finance is shifting quickly. Citing comments by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, he said traditional financial institutions that were once skeptical of digital assets are now embracing blockchain and tokenization as core technologies for the future of finance.

SCBX has invested in digital assets since 2016. After investing in Ripple, it integrated RippleNet into cross-border remittance services for bank customers, Kaweewut said. The network has processed cumulative transaction volume of $9 billion across remittance networks in 27 countries. SCB 10X currently manages a fund of about $500 million and has invested in Web3 companies including Ripple, Anchorage, Nansen and Sygnum.

He said tokenized assets and stablecoins will become the financial industry's main growth pillars. Most real-world assets, including bonds, stocks, real estate, gold and commodities, can be tokenized. Digital assets will eventually serve as core collateral in the financial system, he said. Blockchain-based finance can also reduce transaction costs and settlement times while improving capital efficiency.

SCBX is also building custody services, a tokenization platform and digital-asset trading infrastructure. The company is working with Thai regulators to launch new digital-asset products, including tokenized money market funds, tokenized bonds and crypto exchange-traded funds, Kaweewut said. “We are not simply building services for crypto investors,” he said. “We are building financial infrastructure for more people.”