Tokenization Wars: Fintech vs Wall Street
Coinbase isn’t alone in the race to tokenize real-world assets. Major institutions like JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs are building their own platforms — but their approaches differ sharply.
JPMorgan Onyx focuses on tokenized deposits and intraday repo, using a private permissioned blockchain. It’s designed for internal liquidity optimization, not open-market trading. Goldman’s GS DAP targets institutional credit and private funds, also on a closed network. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund is the exception — it tokenizes money-market fund shares on Ethereum, but doesn’t offer full lifecycle infrastructure.
In contrast, Coinbase Tokenize is built on Base, a public Layer 2 chain. It supports retail and institutional access, tokenizes a broader range of assets (equities, funds, real estate), and integrates directly with Coinbase Exchange and USDC. It’s the only platform offering custody, trading, settlement, and issuance in one stack. Robinhood is also entering the space with its RWA Exchange (RRE), built on Solana and Base. It’s focused on ultra-fast matching and regulatory reform, but hasn’t launched yet.
The key difference? Coinbase is building an open ecosystem, while Wall Street is building closed networks. Tokenize aims to democratize access to RWAs, not just digitize them for institutional use. In the tokenization wars, the battle isn’t just about technology — it’s about who controls the future of asset ownership.
