Goldman, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley pitch tokenization as growth

Wall Street banks tokenization plans came into sharper focus on this week's third-quarter earnings calls. Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley each described blockchain-based assets as an extension of businesses they already run, in trading, payments and wealth advice, CoinDesk reported on Oct. 17. None of them put a revenue figure on the opportunity.

What happened

Goldman chief executive David Solomon was asked whether tokenization, decentralized finance and prediction markets could eat into trading revenue. He argued the opposite. "The developments are obviously creating more products, greater activity, potentially new clients, broader distribution channels," he said, comparing the shift to the move to electronic stock trading decades ago.

Solomon was careful about scale. "I'd say the activity so far is small and at the margin," he said. Goldman built its GS DAP platform for tokenized assets in 2022 and took part in the July 15 live-production run of DTCC's tokenization service, which involved about 40 firms, TokenPost reported.

The bank's tokenization work has covered bonds, money market funds and property. DTCC's service is voluntary for eligible participants of the Depository Trust Company, covers selected assets held there and runs under a three-year authorization from an SEC no-action letter issued in December 2025, TokenPost said.

Wells Fargo is already live. Chief financial officer Michael Santomassimo said its tokenized deposits carry cross-border payments to beneficiary accounts in two minutes or less. "This is in production, by the way, and it's small volume so far," he said.

Why it matters

The payments angle is where Wall Street banks tokenization talk is most concrete. Wells Fargo lacks a large international branch network, and Santomassimo said tokenized deposits could help it win cross-border business without building one. The bank's August announcement said the program would start this fall with U.S. dollar to British pound transfers and expand through 2027 to more clients, countries and currencies.

Wells Fargo has said the tokens keep the regulatory safeguards and deposit insurance eligibility of an ordinary Wells Fargo deposit. It promised always-on settlement between accounts, subsidiaries and counterparties, including on weekends, and programmable payments that release funds based on predefined conditions.

Morgan Stanley framed it around clients. "The tokenized world means it is faster and easier to move assets around, and you will need advice," chief financial officer Sharon Yeshaya said. The firm announced no new product on the call.

TokenPost said the advisory opportunity sits alongside Morgan Stanley's broader digital investments across wealth management and institutional securities, though the bank gave no figures for either.

Banks are positioning against fintech and crypto-native rivals that already move dollars on-chain, from Visa's stablecoin prefunding to DriveWealth's RLUSD settlement. Their pitch is that regulated balance sheets and deposit insurance give them an edge once volumes grow.

Research firms are amplifying the theme. Citrini Research recently published a 79-page tokenization report titled Breaking the Wall, arguing that on-chain assets can behave more like software, moving between applications and serving as collateral, CoinDesk said.

What's next

Santomassimo also floated tokenized securities and real-world assets, plus crypto trading for wealthy clients, as future options, without a timeline. Goldman says it is studying how to use DTCC's service at larger scale.

The next earnings round will show whether any of this moves from pilot to measurable revenue. Until then, Wall Street banks tokenization remains a strategy story with small numbers behind it.