Deutsche Börse sees tokenisation as market evolution

Deutsche Börse Group digital assets head Carlo Kölzer said tokenisation is a natural evolution of market infrastructure rather than a threat, positioning the group to integrate digital and traditional assets into a hybrid trading environment.

Kölzer, who also serves as chief executive of trading platform 360T, made the comments after 360T integrated Kraken-backed xStocks on Feb. 9, enabling clients to trade tokenised shares including Nvidia, Google and Circle.

“Our role as Deutsche Börse Group is not just to build a bridge between two separate worlds, but to create a truly hybrid market,”

Kölzer said, describing a unified ecosystem linking traditional and blockchain-based assets.

He added that tokenisation enhances capital market flexibility and efficiency without rendering traditional infrastructures obsolete, arguing that regulated institutions remain essential for risk management, supervision and orderly markets.

Tokenised assets are up about 18% year to date, though analysts continue to flag concerns around commodity-backed RWAs, stablecoin reserves and uneven regulatory standards across jurisdictions.

Earlier this year, Securitise warned that the European Union risks falling behind the United States unless it updates its DLT Pilot Regime, while Deutsche Börse cited frameworks such as MiFID as a foundation for responsible growth.

Addressing criticism of so-called “paper Bitcoin,” Kölzer emphasised the importance of regulated access and market integrity, saying Deutsche Börse aims to provide robust, trusted and fully regulated exposure to crypto and tokenised products.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $67,286.07.