TLDR:

• The Fed, OCC, and FDIC confirmed tokenized securities get identical capital treatment to traditional assets at U.S. banks.
• Banks can now use tokenized stocks and bonds as loan collateral under the same rules as conventional securities.
• The guidance covers both public blockchains like Ethereum and private permissioned networks without distinction.
• Derivatives tied to tokenized assets also receive standard regulatory treatment, expanding the scope significantly.

U.S. banking regulators have issued landmark joint guidance clearing banks to hold tokenized securities under the same rules as conventional financial assets. 

The Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation released the coordinated announcement together. 

It confirms that a tokenized stock, bond, or other asset carries identical capital treatment to its off-chain equivalent. The move removes a regulatory barrier that major financial institutions had cited for years as a reason to stay off blockchain rails.

Banks Can Now Use Tokenized Assets as Standard Collateral

The guidance covers three core operational changes for U.S. banks. 

First, tokenized securities are now eligible collateral for loans, treated identically to traditional stocks or bonds. Second, the rules apply regardless of whether the token sits on a public blockchain like Ethereum or a private permissioned network. 

Third, financial derivatives linked to tokenized assets receive the same treatment as conventional derivatives.

That last point carries significant weight. Derivatives markets dwarf spot markets in volume. Extending identical regulatory treatment to tokenized derivatives opens a much larger surface area for blockchain adoption.

The announcement does not require new legislation. It is guidance, meaning banks can act on it immediately. No waiting period applies.

For institutions like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, the obstacle was never technological. 

According to posts on X, including commentary from @BullTheoryio and @markchadwickx, major banks were awaiting exactly this kind of regulatory clarity before moving capital onto blockchain infrastructure.

Tokenization Market Stands to Absorb Trillions in Traditional Capital

The addressable pool of assets is enormous. Global equity markets alone exceed $100 trillion. Bond markets add tens of trillions more.

Real estate sits on top of that. Most of that capital has remained off-chain, not due to technical limitations, but due to unresolved regulatory questions around how tokenized versions would be treated on bank balance sheets.

That question now has a clear answer. A tokenized Apple share carries the same legal claim, the same ownership rights, and the same balance sheet weight as a traditional share. Regulators have confirmed this directly.

The practical effect is that banks can begin integrating tokenized securities into existing workflows without restructuring their risk or compliance frameworks. This lowers the operational cost of adoption substantially.

Public blockchains are specifically included in the guidance. That detail matters. Many institutions assumed regulators would favor private, permissioned networks. 

The explicit inclusion of public chains broadens the infrastructure eligible to handle institutional-grade asset flows

Bitcoin is likely to outperform gold on price performance through to 2029 after gold’s strong recent rally, says macroeconomist Lyn Alden.

“If I had to bet Bitcoin versus gold over the next two to three years, I would bet Bitcoin,” Alden said on the New Era Finance podcast on Wednesday.

“Gun to my head, if I had to say which one I think outperforms, I would say Bitcoin,” she added.

“It’s usually a pendulum between the two. If gold has gone up as much as it did, the entire diminishing return story per cycle is going to be erased in the coming one, too.”

Many crypto industry executives, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, have predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach $1 million by 2030 with clearer regulations taking shape in the US, which Armstrong called a “bellwether for the rest of the G20.” 

Alden dismisses that gold is in a bubble

Bitcoin is often compared to gold as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty, with many investors dubbing it “digital gold.” 

Alden said gold is seeing “somewhat euphoric” sentiment after it reached a new all-time high of around $5,608 in January.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a bubble, but it’s somewhat euphoric,” she said.

The JM Bullion gold Fear and Greed Index, which tracks sentiment toward gold, posted a “Greed” score of 72 out of 100 on Friday. On the same day, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which measures sentiment across Bitcoin and the broader crypto market, posted an “Extreme Fear” score of 18 out of 100.

Alden said that the sentiment toward Bitcoin is “somewhat unfairly negative.” Bitcoin is trading at $71,164, down 44% from its October all-time high of $126,000, according to CoinMarketCap.

Alden said she avoids relying too heavily on rigid narratives about the relationship between the two assets.

“I try to be hesitant about reading into how absolute these things are. Gold and Bitcoin can go up together, they can go down together,” she explained.

Investors debate Bitcoin’s narrative

While the two assets are often grouped together as alternatives to fiat currencies, the relationship isn’t always consistent; sometimes the prices move in tandem during periods of macro uncertainty, and other times they decouple.