Chainfeeds Summary:
In twenty days, a war to define the next generation of financial infrastructure in the United States has begun on Wall Street.
Article source:
https://foresightnews.pro/article/detail/96007
Article Author:
Foresight News
Opinion:
Foresight News: In March 2026, Larry Fink likened tokenization to "the internet in 1996" in his annual letter to investors, suggesting that the trend was still in its early stages, but the actual pace of progress has far exceeded expectations. Within just one month, a competition for control of the next generation of financial infrastructure has fully unfolded on Wall Street. The trigger was the approval granted to Kraken-related banking entities to access the Federal Reserve's master account system, meaning that it is expected to directly connect to core payment networks such as Fedwire, breaking the traditional banks' monopoly on clearing channels for the first time at the institutional level. This development not only reduces reliance on intermediary banks but also symbolizes that crypto institutions are beginning to touch the most core "settlement rights" of the financial system. The old system reacted quickly, with DTCC, Clearstream, and Euroclear jointly releasing a white paper, attempting to re-establish rule-making power in the era of digital securities. Nasdaq was even more aggressive, collaborating with Kraken's parent company to promote the integration of tokenized stock issuance and trading, and accelerating the on-chain deployment of collateral management through cooperation with Talos. Traditional financial institutions have clearly realized that this is not just a technological upgrade, but a structural restructuring of "who controls market access." Kraken's acquisition of master account access from the Federal Reserve is seen as a substantial breakthrough for the banking system. A master account means direct access to Fedwire, a system that has long been exclusive to commercial banks and processes trillions of dollars in transactions daily. Previously, all non-bank institutions had to complete transfers through intermediary banks, incurring fees. Now, Kraken has the opportunity to bypass this chain, achieving a more direct settlement path between fiat currency and crypto assets. More importantly, this change is not an isolated event, but a result of a shift in regulatory attitude. Over the past year, the US has gradually released clearer regulatory signals in areas such as stablecoins and tokenized securities, making on-chain finance more likely to be institutionalized. In stark contrast to Custodia Bank's previous rejection, Kraken's success reflects a change in the policy cycle. The banking system is highly vigilant, with industry organizations supported by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and others publicly expressing their opposition and considering legal means to prevent the spread of similar access. The core concern is that once more institutions gain direct access, the role of banks as gatekeepers will be weakened, and the long-standing reliance on transaction fees and financial intermediation revenue will be eroded. The divergence between Nasdaq and the NYSE reflects Wall Street's differing assessments of the future path. Nasdaq is attempting to restructure its trading structure through tokenization, compressing the original "five-layer intermediary" system of brokerages, exchanges, clearinghouses, custodians, and banks into a more efficient on-chain system: using blockchain for position registration, smart contracts for clearing and settlement, and combining Kraken's Fedwire direct connection for fund settlement. This not only reduces costs but may also reshape the entire trust mechanism. Simultaneously, Nasdaq launched the Equity Token Design framework, aiming to compete for industry standard-setting power—just as SWIFT and FIX defined rules for financial communication, standards themselves are the infrastructure gateway. The NYSE, on the other hand, adopts a "dual-track strategy," maintaining cooperation with the traditional system while introducing on-chain platforms like Securitize, reserving space for the future. Its parent company, ICE, is attempting to secure a position at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance by investing in projects such as OKX and Polymarket. It's clear that the core of this competition isn't whether or not to adopt blockchain, but rather who can redefine their essential role in the financial chain at the intersection of the old and new systems and continue to profit from it.
Content source 
