ELMHURST, IL (JLN) ― October 14, 2025 ― Tal Elyashiv, the founder and managing partner of SPiCE VC and co-founder of Securitize, predicts that tokenization will revolutionize securities settlement within the next decade, potentially replacing traditional market infrastructure for equities, bonds, and investment funds.
In an interview with John Lothian News, Elyashiv explained that tokenization enables near-instant settlement of transactions by automating compliance checks and regulatory requirements, which currently require manual intervention and multiple intermediaries.
“What tokenization does—especially if it’s done right, end to end—is allow all these roles to happen in a truly automated way,” Elyashiv said. “Without today’s manual intervention, settlement could be immediate instead of taking weeks.”
Private securities and investment funds represent the lowest-hanging fruit for tokenization adoption, according to Elyashiv. Major asset managers, including BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane, and VanEck, have begun tokenizing fund offerings through platforms like Securitize, which provides end-to-end services for digital securities.
Securitize currently manages approximately $5 billion in assets across tokenized funds and equities. The platform offers issuance, compliance management, custody, trading venues, transfer agency services, and broker-dealer functions for digital securities.
Elyashiv emphasized that properly structured tokenized securities provide identical ownership rights to traditional shares. Recent examples include publicly traded companies like FG Nexus and Exodus, which have issued shares as digital tokens that are fully interchangeable with conventional securities.
However, regulatory and operational challenges remain significant. Digital securities require a comprehensive infrastructure, including licensed trading venues, blockchain-enabled transfer agents, fund administrators, and properly coded smart contracts that embed all compliance rules.
“It’s important to build all regulatory and operational needs into the token from the start, since tokens are difficult to amend after issuance,” Elyashiv said.
The veteran technology executive, who previously served as chief information officer at Capital One and held senior positions at Bank of America, founded SPiCE VC in 2016-2017 to invest exclusively in blockchain infrastructure. The fund has generated returns exceeding 2.5 times invested capital over seven years by focusing on “picks and shovels” infrastructure companies rather than specific blockchain platforms.
Elyashiv expressed skepticism about developing nations using tokenization as a shortcut to establish securities markets, arguing that investor protection and market structure matter more than underlying technology.
“Tokenization is just infrastructure—a more efficient way to do the same thing,” he said. “What matters is regulated, investor-protective market structure, not the tools used.”
For secondary market liquidity to improve, Elyashiv said institutional participation and compelling investment opportunities will prove more critical than tokenization technology itself. He expects trading activity for tokenized assets to increase significantly within two to three years as major asset managers continue adopting the technology at scale.
