Convergence in motion: Inside the institutional blockchain shift

The convergence between traditional finance and public blockchain infrastructure is no longer driven by speculative hype but by real-world operational needs. Emma Laundrieau of JPMorgan's Connexus and guest Olly Harris argue that institutions are now prioritizing the 'rails'—compliance, privacy, and finality—over the assets themselves. This shift is enabling a new era of interoperable, permissioned access on public-grade infrastructure, where privacy is built into both protocol and asset layers. The key innovation lies in atomic settlement: the simultaneous, real-time movement of cash and assets, eliminating counterparty risk and unlocking unprecedented efficiency in payments, collateral management, and capital markets. Harris emphasizes that this isn't a technology bet but an infrastructure transition—delaying action risks existential irrelevance for institutions. The future will see high-quality liquid assets lead the charge in tokenization, with longer-term illiquidity eventually being addressed as market structures mature. The episode reveals that deposit tokens like JPM Coin are not substitutes for stablecoins but complementary tools, serving institutional wholesale markets with bank-backed certainty, while stablecoins remain dominant in retail and cross-border flows. Institutional adoption is accelerating in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, particularly in money market funds and short-duration treasuries, where liquidity and market structure already exist.