Tiger Research Says RWA Shift Lies in Financial Infrastructure, With Canton Network Built for Institutions

Tiger Research said July 8 that while market attention has focused on tokenized Treasuries, the real transformation is taking place across the broader financial system, citing its report on the global blockchain network Canton Network.

The report said on-chain issued assets had grown to about $34 billion as of May, more than 20 times the $1.5 billion recorded in early 2020. Including assets represented on-chain, the total reaches about $360 billion. The shift is showing up across the financial system, including in repurchase agreement, or repo, trading, securities settlement and stablecoin payments.

Broadridge, a capital-markets infrastructure company, processes $7.7 trillion in monthly transactions through DLR, its Canton Network-based repo platform, according to the report. Tiger Research said that has helped solve the weekend settlement gap. DTCC is also working with Digital Asset, the developer of Canton Network, on a US Treasury tokenization project, the report said.

Tiger Research cited Canton Network's institutional-focused structure as a competitive strength. "Digital Asset has received investment from JPMorgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs and DTCC, and has continued to develop blockchain technology tailored to institutions based on its experience building the Australian Securities Exchange settlement system and DTCC's credit-derivatives infrastructure," the report said.

Tiger Research said the network is also expanding in Asia. In South Korea, Hanwha Investment & Securities and Digital Asset signed a business agreement after legislation on tokenized securities advanced, the report said. Shinhan Asset Management, Shinhan Securities and KB Securities have also moved to cooperate. In Japan, Japan Securities Clearing Corp., Nomura Holdings and Mizuho Financial Group are conducting a pilot project on Japanese government bond tokenization. In Hong Kong, Canton Network has been adopted as government bond settlement infrastructure at a payment institution under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

"Once capital-markets infrastructure is built, it does not change easily," Yoon Seung-sik, head of research at Tiger Research, said. "The gap between institutions that join while standards are being formed and those trying to catch up after standards are entrenched becomes harder to narrow over time."