Daniel Alecio
4 min read
Tokenized credit vaults are quietly eating Wall Street’s lunch originally appeared on TheStreet.
Crypto doesn’t need another casino. What it needs—and frankly, what it’s already building—is infrastructure. And it’s happening quietly, without fanfare. The foundation is shifting beneath our feet.
Not in trading apps, memecoins, or the churn of trendy protocols—but in private credit. Structured. Automated. Entirely on-chain.
“One of the most important developments today is the rapid institutional pivot toward tokenization of real-world assets and the convergence of traditional finance with on-chain infrastructure,” says Matteo Pandolfi, Co-founder of Pareto.
It’s an inevitable migration. Away from PDFs, batch settlements, and an army of intermediaries. Toward programmable cash. Smart contracts as infrastructure. Value that moves like code.
“We’re now seeing tokenization reach mainstream, large-scale adoption"” Pandolfi explains. “Trillions of dollars of assets are already transacting on-chain each month.”
The reason? Friction. Or the lack of it. Blockchain doesn’t just move capital—it governs it. Ownership is explicit. Payouts are automatic. Settlement is continuous. Business hours? Irrelevant..
“This shift is being driven by blockchain’s ability to offer programmability, composability, and managed transparency.”
This isn’t about metaphors or wrapped legacy infrastructure. It’s about building new financial primitives. And it’s working.
“Tokenized assets, programmable cash equivalents, and embedded compliance tooling are no longer theoretical - they’re becoming the foundation of next-generation financial infrastructure.”
Still, Pandolfi doesn’t romanticize it. The rails only work if the entire machine runs.
“Institutional adoption at scale requires coordination across all major stakeholders - custodians, regulators, and infrastructure providers. They must align to ensure compliance, security, and interoperability.”
What comes next isn’t a new chain. It’s deeper integration—DeFi as scaffolding.
