Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters has a prediction for future global transactions: All money will be…

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters has predicted a future where virtually all global financial transactions will be settled on a digital blockchain ledger and all money will be digital. Winters predicted this during a panel at Hong Kong FinTech Week, as the adoption of digital assets by mainstream finance institutions continues to grow. The UK-based multinational bank’s CEO said: “Our belief, which I think is shared by the leadership of Hong Kong, is that pretty much all transactions will settle on blockchains eventually, and that all money will be digital.”

“Think about what that means: a complete rewiring of the financial system,” Winters added, emphasising the fundamental change this would represent. He stressed the need for experimentation to determine the exact nature of this change.
Standard Chartered, which is listed in both London and Hong Kong, has been increasing its involvement in digital assets through services such as digital asset custody, trading platforms, and tokenised products.

According to a report by CNBC, Winters also credited Hong Kong for its leadership in the digital assets space through its licensing regime and tokenisation pilots, in which Standard Chartered participates.

What are tokenised assets and what Standard Chartered is planning

A tokenised asset is a digital version of a real-world asset such as stocks, bonds, or commodities, that can be recorded and traded on a blockchain or distributed ledger. Stablecoins, which are linked to a currency, are often seen as an early example of a tradable tokenised asset.

Standard Chartered, working with blockchain venture capital firm Animoca Brands and telecommunications company HKT, plans to introduce a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin under the city’s new regulatory framework launched in August.
Winters said that he believed that Hong Kong dollar stablecoins can represent an interesting new medium of exchange for international trade on digital terms.

Several global fintech executives have also shared optimistic views about tokenized assets in recent months. Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev said last month that tokenisation was a “freight train,” coming to most major markets in the next five years.

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, said in April that every asset from stocks to bonds to real estate can be tokenized in what will represent a “revolution” for investing.