Dr Anna-Naomi Bandi-Lang

This roundtable continues Elevandi’s series on the progress of Project Guardian, a concerted effort between policymakers and the financial industry to foster responsible innovation in asset tokenisation while enhancing liquidity and efficiency of financial markets.

Forms of financial asset tokenisation are taking shape in capital markets, through platforms that facilitate the issuance of these tokens to those supporting secondary trading of tokenised securities. With tokenisation, these platforms are broadening investor access to private equity and private credit by making it more cost-efficient to fractionalise and offer such products. Furthermore, by simplifying the distribution and trading of such products digitally, platforms may improve the liquidity of these traditionally illiquid products.

In 2023, participating financial institutions in Project Guardian demonstrated the potential of asset tokenisation through different pilots across use cases, unlocking the potential of traditional finance (TradFi) through decentralised finance (DeFi). A summary outlining actionable insights was produced that highlighted the importance of international collaboration, responsible innovation, and a shift towards outcome-oriented approaches by taking tokenisation from concepts to commercialisation. Emphasising the need to prioritise commercial value over just technological allure, these discussions set the tone for the pivotal role of Project Guardian in shaping the financial landscape. Read the report here.

Looking ahead to 2024, the next phase of Project Guardian aims to accelerate institutional adoption and scalability for asset tokenisation, by unpacking how the industry can work together to fuel this acceleration. This roundtable is one of two roundtables held at the Point Zero Forum under the theme of Decoding Digital Assets and Payments that will discuss the latest developments and findings based on the milestones achieved under Project Guardian till date. This roundtable will focus on asset and wealth management.

Attendees who wish to familiarise themselves with the topic may refer to the linked reports.
- Guardian roundtable: Concepts to commercialisation
- Playback of Project Guardian – Unlocking TradFi with DeFi