Storming the TradFi castle: Stablecoins, tokenized assets and AI are claiming their place in global finance

A convergence of traditional financial institutions, blockchain innovators and a friendlier regulatory climate is carrying the world of decentralized finance into a new phase. Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission debuted a five-year exemption for the trading of tokenized equities, digital tokens that represent a stock and can be traded on the blockchain. The announcement opened the door to a host of market-altering scenarios, including investor self-custody, fractional ownership of shares and 24/7 trading that could be settled instantly. The SEC action provided further evidence that the world of passive payments is shifting to a model of intelligent capital movement, driven by the intersection of stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets and agentic artificial intelligence, all under the aegis of decentralized finance, or DeFi. “These pillars are going to combine,” said Joseph Chalom, former BlackRock executive and currently the chief executive of the digital currency company Sharplink Inc. “We…