Digital assets are moving into the institutional mainstream, with expanding use cases for investors, banks and corporate treasurers. A new Barclays Research framework shows how the opportunity extends well beyond cryptocurrencies to tokenised real-world assets and, perhaps most importantly, the infrastructure used to manage cash, collateral and settlement.
- Digital assets now span a near-$3 trillion ecosystem, extending well beyond cryptocurrencies.
- Institutional adoption is broadening through wrappers, tokenised real-world assets and money market funds.
- Tokenised repo shows how blockchain can improve collateral mobility, reconciliation and operational efficiency.
- Faster settlement and more continuous liquidity could reduce risk and free up capital across financial markets.
Zornitsa Todorova leads the Thematic FICC Research team at Barclays, based in London. She is a Director, and covers topics such as market structure, financial market innovation, and emerging macroeconomic trends. Zornitsa and her team employ quantitative, academic-style methods to analyse the global impact of these themes across credit, rates, and macro products. Before joining Barclays in 2019, she taught risk management and investments at Bocconi University and the Berlin School of Business and Innovation. Her research has been featured in peer-reviewed journals such as The Journal of Financial Markets, Institutions and Instruments, The Journal of Corporate Ownership and Control, and The Review of Finance and Banking. Zornitsa holds a PhD with honors in Economics and Finance from Bocconi University in Italy.