Tokenization is the next evolution of financial and digital infrastructure. As BlackRock CEO Larry Fink noted in his Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors, “every stock, every bond, every fund—every asset—can be tokenized.” 

Tokenization is now a tangible force reshaping how assets are issued, traded, and settled. Across the U.S., leading banks, technology firms, and industry innovators are pioneering some of the most successful tokenization projects in the world. From banking and capital markets to insurance and trade finance, these organizations are developing real-world tokenization solutions that are already unlocking significant value.

This list spotlights seven examples of how U.S. organizations are leveraging tokenization to unlock new markets, streamline operations, and push the boundaries of financial innovation.

1. Citigroup: Tokenized Deposits for Trade Finance

Industry: Banking / Trade Finance

Use case: Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions unit piloted Citi Token Services in 2023, integrating tokenized bank deposits and smart contracts into its global network for 24/7 cross-border payments and trade financing. In one pilot with Maersk and a canal authority, Citi issued tokenized deposits to automate a shipping payment, digitizing letters of credit in the trade finance ecosystem. 

Outcome: The blockchain-based solution enabled instant, programmable payment via smart contracts, with the goal of reducing transaction processing times from days to minutes. After successful pilots, Citi moved the platform into commercial use in 2024, facilitating multimillion-dollar daily transactions for corporate treasurers with “24/7, always-on cross-border liquidity”.

2. Goldman Sachs: Tokenized Bond Issuance

Industry: Investment Banking / Capital Markets

Use case: In November 2022, Goldman Sachs launched its GS DAP (Digital Asset Platform) to issue and manage tokenized financial instruments. The first use case was a €100 million two-year digital bond issuance for the European Investment Bank (EIB) on a private blockchain. 

Outcome: The bond was issued and settled on the same day (T+0), a process that typically takes five days, with atomic Delivery vs. Payment settlement in under 60 seconds. This marked “the first fully digitally native bond with same day settlement and also the first syndicated digital bond issued by a public institution to be admitted on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Securities Official List”, showcasing efficiency gains in bond markets and validating Goldman’s tokenization technology in a regulated environment.

3. Franklin Templeton: Tokenized U.S. Government Money Market Fund

Industry: Asset Management

Use case: Franklin Templeton launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), a U.S.-registered mutual fund that processes transactions and records share ownership on public blockchains. In April 2024, the firm enabled peer-to-peer transfers of its tokenized fund, allowing users to transfer fund shares directly between each other without intermediaries.

Outcome: As of May 2025, the fund held over $760 million in total net assets. By enabling peer-to-peer transfers, the fund was able to support greater utility, unlocking secondary trading, DeFi collateralization, and broader integration with onchain finance infrastructure.

4. State Farm & USAA: Blockchain for Claims Subrogation

Industry: Insurance

Use case: U.S. insurance firms State Farm and USAA developed a blockchain solution to “automate the time-consuming and paper-heavy processing of subrogation claims.” Subrogation is used by insurers to recover money when settling claims between their customers.

Outcome: In 2020, the blockchain platform had successfully replaced the manual, paper-heavy exchange of checks between the two companies. Previously, about 75,000 paper checks were mailed back and forth between State Farm and USAA each year for subrogation claims. The new system settles claims digitally, greatly increasing efficiency and reducing settlement time. This was one of the first real-world blockchain implementations in insurance, solving the State Farm/USAA subrogation challenge via a shared ledger and paving the way for broader insurance industry adoption.

5. IBM & IPwe: Patent Tokenization

Industry: Intellectual Property

Use case: In 2021, IBM and IP transaction platform IPwe announced a platform to represent corporate patents as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using IBM’s enterprise blockchain network. Each patent NFT would encapsulate the ownership and key details of a patent, making it a digital asset that can be transacted. 

Outcome: Tokenizing intellectual property is expected to make patent marketplaces more efficient by increasing transparency and liquidity in this illiquid asset class. An NFT representation can simplify licensing and selling of patents by making ownership transfers more trusted and easily verifiable onchain. For companies, this could unlock additional value from their patent portfolios, as patents could be more easily valued, shared, or even used as collateral. IBM and IPwe’s initiative pointed toward a future where a significant portion of the world’s patents could be managed and commercialized through blockchain-based tokens.

The Tokenization Wave Is Accelerating

What was once a vision of tokenization is now becoming a reality, with the past two years marking a major acceleration in live, institutional-grade tokenized products. As regulatory clarity improves in the United States and tokenized markets gain traction globally, institutions embracing this shift stand to gain a significant share of an emerging multi-hundred-trillion-dollar market. Tokenization unlocks access to illiquid assets, streamlines settlement, and enables finance to operate seamlessly across borders.

But for tokenization to reach the next stage of its adoption, a new infrastructure is needed—one that can connect all these blockchains, assets, markets, and existing infrastructure in a secure and reliable way. By providing decentralized data, interoperability, and secure onchain/offchain connectivity and orchestration, Chainlink is building the backbone of tokenized asset markets.