Why Financial Institutions Are Building Settlement Systems on Ethereum
- Major banks and asset managers issue fund equities and credit products directly on Ethereum.
- Payment firms and banks use Ethereum for stablecoins settlement and on-chain transfers.
- Global infrastructure groups integrate Ethereum to support tokenization and real-time.
Ethereum has presented itself as the leading blockchain for global financial institutions after publishing a detailed list of 35 active institutional deployments building directly on its network and Layer 2s. The disclosures describe banks, asset managers, payment firms, and technology companies. They issue tokenized assets, launch regulated funds, enable settlements, and integrate stablecoins on the Ethereum infrastructure.
Institutional Tokenization Expands Across Markets
Ethereum detailed multiple launches involving tokenized equity funds and credit products issued directly on-chain. KrakenFX introduced xStocks as ERC-20 tokens, enabling clients to move tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on Ethereum.
Ondo Finance followed with Ondo Global Markets, offering more than 100 tokenized U.S. equities with constant access and DeFi integration. ChinaAMC Hong Kong launched a USD money market fund on Ethereum, offering 24/7 settlement for institutional investors.
Fidelity deployed its tokenized money market fund, FDIT, on Ethereum, providing on-chain settlement while preserving exposure to traditional instruments. JPMorgan launched MONY on the Ethereum mainnet and seeded the fund with $100 million of its own capital.
BNY Global and Securitize announced a tokenized AAA-rated CLO fund on Ethereum. Amundi launched a tokenized euro money market share class on the Ethereum mainnet, targeting continuous settlement for cash management.
Payments, Stablecoins, and Bank Settlement Move On-Chain
Ethereum’s list shows a shift from experimentation to live banking infrastructure. UBS PostFinance, Sygnum, and the Swiss Bankers Association completed a legally binding cross-bank settlement pilot using Ethereum public infrastructure.
Openbank of Santander has introduced ETH trading in Germany, which permits custody and trading via the regulated bank account of the client. SoFi created SoFi USD and became the first U.S. national retail bank to mint a stablecoin on a public blockchain.
The new eUSD was released by Telcoin through a digital asset bank regulated by the U.S. government, using Ethereum and Polygon as the operating rails. JPYC issued a stablecoin pegged to the yen under Japan’s Payment Services Act, which was the first regulated yen-pegged stablecoin on Ethereum.
Stripe expanded Ethereum-based stablecoin subscriptions, allowing companies to accept USDC with recurring billing. Mastercard expanded its Crypto Credential program on Ethereum Layer 2 Polygon to support verified wallet transfers.
Global Infrastructure Integrations Deepen Ethereum’s Role
Technology firms and financial infrastructure providers also expanded Ethereum usage. Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol, enabling AI agents to transact with stablecoins on Ethereum in partnership with Coinbase, MetaMask, and the Ethereum Foundation.
SWIFT and more than 30 banks began designing a blockchain ledger supporting tokenized assets and real-time payments using Ethereum-based infrastructure with Consensys. Google integrated Polymarket data into search results using Ethereum-based markets.
BlackRock filed for a staked ETH ETF following the launch of its spot ETH product. Morgan Stanley later filed for its own staked Ether ETF. Grayscale distributed ETH staking rewards to ETF shareholders for the first time in U.S. regulated markets.
Read More: Vitalik Warns Ethereum Risks From Growing Protocol Complexity
Robinhood has recently introduced 500 tokenized assets on the Arbitrum network. Coinbase has also developed Coinbase Tokenize on the Base network for the purpose of institutional issuance, custody compliance, and trading of tokenized assets.
Ethereum believes that these activities put the network in a position of being the main global settlement layer for large-scale institutions, governments, and enterprises.
