Morgan Stanley now expects to support tokenized equities on its alternative trading system (ATS) in the first quarter of 2027, according to Amy Oldenburg, the firm’s head of digital asset strategy. Speaking to The Block at Token2049, Oldenburg said the bank is actively building the necessary infrastructure and described the Q1 2027 window as more realistic than the second half of 2026 she indicated in March.
“We need product in order to be able to support them within the ATS,” Oldenburg said. “And the client demand really isn't there because the product doesn't exist. So we just need a little more time to pass.” She cited DTCC’s upcoming tokenization service launch at the end of October 2026 as a significant milestone, as well as the GENIUS Act taking effect in January. Oldenburg also said permissibility from the Federal Reserve remains a factor, and that elements of the Clarity framework still need to be tightened for traditional organizations.
The ATS would match tokenized equity orders away from public exchanges such as Nasdaq, allowing Morgan Stanley to internalize flow rather than routing it to listed markets. The firm already offers direct equities, derivatives and swaps through the same model, and views tokenization as an extension of its strategy to raise, allocate and manage capital onchain. Morgan Stanley is developing proprietary custodial wallet infrastructure designed to sit invisibly behind the client experience, and it recently established a Digital Asset Lab to test blockchain and crypto-native technologies before production. The bank also received conditional OCC approval in June to establish a digital trust for custody and staking.
Oldenburg predicted the tokenized real-world asset market will reach between $3 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030, compared with about $39.19 billion on rwa.xyz on 12 October. Ethereum remains the settlement venue of record for tokenized equities and the wider RWA category with $17 billion across 2,848 assets, ahead of BNB Chain at $5.8 billion and Solana at $4.4 billion. DTCC processed live production trades using DTC-tokenized assets in July with more than 30 firms including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, with full service slated for October 2026.
Oldenburg described near-term tokenization opportunities in operationally complex areas such as private shares, structured notes, custom products and private fund access, where blockchain could reduce paperwork. Once more assets are tokenized, she said, questions arise about using them as collateral, summarizing the trajectory as “the securitization of everything.”
