Binance CEO Richard Teng said that the traditional financial ecosystem is increasingly incorporating digital assets into both existing and innovative products. Teng shared his views in a post dated January 22.
"The creation of composite products and new models based on traditional instruments is accelerating, with Bitcoin – and soon, other digital assets – becoming a cornerstone of modern financial infrastructure in many direct and indirect ways," said Teng.
In January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the creation of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETFs), according to a press release. Former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry and Digital Assets Subcommittee Chairman French Hill described the approvals as "a historic milestone for the future of the digital asset ecosystem in the United States." They noted that markets and investors would "finally be afforded greater access to this generational technology."
According to CoinTelegraph, within four months of the SEC's approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, more than 600 U.S. investment firms, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo, invested in them.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, expressed last year that he sees the "tokenization of every financial asset" as part of a "technological revolution in the financial markets," CNBC reported. Fink explained that with tokenized securities, transactions are immediately recorded on a general ledger, which could eliminate corruption by having a tokenized system.
Tokenization involves creating a unique digital representation of an asset such as art, bonds, intellectual property, or data. According to McKinsey & Company, BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Franklin Templeton have begun adopting tokenized money market funds. The total value of these funds surpassed $1 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Tokenizing financial markets could provide asset holders with benefits like immutability, faster settlement transaction times, operational cost savings, and enhanced transparency.
Teng joined Binance in August 2021. Prior to his role at Binance, he served as CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), chief regulatory officer at Singapore Exchange (SGX), and director of corporate finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He became CEO of Binance in November 2023.