2025 will be remembered as the year tokenization stopped being a future dream and became a defining force across global finance. After years of writing about digital asset regulation, even I didn’t expect to witness this moment — especially with my longtime editor, Max Yakubowski, still on this journey with me. But here we are: the U.S. financial system, along with major global markets, finally embraced tokenization at scale.
Stablecoins Go Mainstream After U.S. GENIUS Act
The turning point came when the United States passed the GENIUS Act, which set strict rules for stablecoins. The law requires issuers to maintain 100% reserves in liquid assets and publish monthly disclosures — a level of transparency that quickly boosted trust and adoption.
And it worked. A survey showed that 41% of companies using stablecoins saved over 10% on cross-border payments. (Somewhere, Tether cofounder William Quigley must be raising an eyebrow at how far the industry has come since 2013.)
This framework sparked a wave of corporate stablecoins. World Liberty Financial, tied to President Trump’s family, launched USD1, backed by U.S. Treasuries. PayPal, the first major U.S. company to roll out a stablecoin, continued expanding access to PYUSD.
Global Banks and Nations Join the Race
What happened next was unprecedented. Major U.S. and European banks — including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Citi, ING, Barclays, and Santander — began preparing their own stablecoin projects. Japan’s “big three” banks—MUFG, SMFG, and Mizuho—announced a joint initiative as well.
Across Asia and the Middle East, tokenization picked up similar momentum.
• Hong Kong’s Red Date Technology explored stablecoin and CBDC integrations.
• Russia leaned on a ruble-pegged stablecoin, A7A5, to navigate sanctions.
• India is building a regulated sovereign-backed stablecoin, the Asset Reserve Certificate, targeting early 2026.
• UAE and Saudi Arabia advanced their joint project, ABER, while rolling out their own regulated stablecoins.
Even Big Tech wants in: Walmart, Amazon, Cloudflare, and Google are exploring corporate stablecoins, and Google Cloud already accepts crypto payments. Meta, after shelving Libra/Diem, is studying ways to integrate stablecoins like USDC and USDT for creator payouts.
Meanwhile in China, Alibaba’s e-commerce division partnered with JPMorgan to develop “deposit tokens,” a compliant alternative to traditional stablecoins.
Europe Moves Ahead With Regulation-Ready Tokens
A Europe-based entity, AllUnity, backed by Deutsche Bank’s DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy Digital, secured approval to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin. Sony Bank in Japan is also preparing its own stablecoin. Even Deutsche Telekom deepened its involvement through blockchain-focused investments.
But Global Rules Still Don’t Match
Despite the rapid progress, regulatory consistency is still a mess. The Financial Stability Board warns that stablecoin oversight varies wildly across jurisdictions. Tax rules are even more fragmented as countries adopt their own digital service taxes, ignoring OECD recommendations.
The OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) — the world’s attempt at unified tax reporting — will only begin sharing data between countries in 2027–28.
In the U.S., new broker tax reporting rules for digital assets start in 2025 and 2026. While DeFi reporting rules were overturned in 2025, individuals still must track every taxable transaction, foreign account, and capital gain themselves.
Why a Global Tokenized System Is Still Impossible
Three major barriers block a unified worldwide digital payment system:
- AML and Travel Rule compliance: Countries apply FATF rules differently, causing gaps and inconsistencies.
- Taxation: No two countries tax digital assets the same way, making global reconciliation nearly impossible.
- Monetary sovereignty: Nations simply won’t hand control of their currency or financial infrastructure to a global authority.
Tokenization Is Here — But True Global Unity Isn’t
Despite these challenges, one thing is undeniable: global finance is being tokenized step-by-step. National systems are modernizing, regulators are catching up, and corporations are moving fast to integrate blockchain-based infrastructure.
A perfectly unified global digital system may never arrive — but 2025 proved that the world is heading firmly, and irreversibly, in that direction
Also Read: Western Union Eyes Stablecoin Card for Inflation-Hit Economies
