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As cross-border payments move toward real-time, banks must modernize infrastructure to deliver faster, cheaper, and more transparent solutions that meet evolving demands. The challenge is significant, but so is the potential reward.Key highlights:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Cross-border payments are evolving towards real-time processing, which aims to increase speed, reduce costs, improve transparency, and broaden access. Significant progress has already been made with 89% of payments over Swift now being processed within an hour.</li><li>Despite progress, significant challenges remain, including the fact that globally only 42% of cross-border payments are credited to beneficiaries within an hour and the average cost of sending a $200 remittance is still 6.3%. </li><li>Modernizing infrastructure is crucial for banks to compete effectively in this 24/7 world. This involves investing in real-time operations, leveraging industry shifts like ISO 20022 compliance, and harnessing technologies such as APIs, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.</li><li>Citi offers specific solutions like 24/7 USD Clearing, which is used by 240 banks in over 40 markets, and Real-Time Liquidity Sharing, enabling payments to be executed without pre-funding. Additionally, Citi® Token Services leverages blockchain to facilitate cross-border payments in as little as 90 seconds. &nbsp;</li></ol>

Read the article: Real-Time, Real Value: Delivering on the Promise of Cross-Border Payments

As cross-border payments move toward real-time, banks must modernize infrastructure to deliver faster, cheaper, and more transparent solutions that meet evolving demands. The challenge is significant, but so is the potential reward.

Real-Time, Real Value: Delivering on the Promise of Cross-Border Payments

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Tokenization 2030 - Wall Street On-Chain

<hr>1. Growth predictions: We forecast a $5.5 trillion base case for tokenized assets by 2030, rising to $8 trillion in a bull case. Public market securities and liquid collateral, particularly U.S. equities and treasuries, are likely to drive early adoption and expand distribution to digitally native investors.<hr>2.&nbsp;Liquid assets on-chain: Modern, digitally native investors increasingly expect 24x7 access to financial assets. Equities, bonds and commodities could move on-chain as younger retail investors drive adoption. If 10% of U.S. retail investors use on-chain solutions by 2030, this could create about $2.6 trillion of demand for tokenized public equities.<hr>3. Institutional catalysts: Major market infrastructure providers, including DTCC, NYSE, and Nasdaq, are beginning to integrate tokenization into their core platforms. As pilot programs transition into production, supported by evolving regulation, adoption among traditional financial institutions could accelerate.<hr>4. Digital money is the foundational enabler: Tokenization of financial assets is the companion to tokenized cash. Regulated stablecoins and tokenized deposits can help engender trust in on-chain settlement for Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP), improving capital efficiency and reducing settlement risk.<hr>5. “Structural orchestrators” emerge: Tokenization could create new revenue pools through programmability, composability and vertically integrated business models. Institutions may look to control issuance, distribution and settlement rails (e.g., select banks, asset managers, stablecoin issuers) in order to capture value.<hr>6. Evolution, not revolution – hybrid models set to dominate: The transition will be gradual. We expect a “messy” period where tokenized and legacy systems operate side by side. Hybrid models and interoperability between on-chain and off-chain worlds are critical to scaling.

Key Takeaways

The tokenization of financial assets – the representation of securities as digital tokens on blockchain infrastructure – is moving from pilot stage toward operational deployment. After years of slow progress held back by regulatory uncertainty, fragmented infrastructure and the absence of on-chain settlement money, adoption is now accelerating.The current global tokenized asset market stands at approximately $17 billion. Citi Institute projects this to reach $5.5 trillion by 2030 in a base case scenario, with a bear case of $2.7 trillion and a bull case of $8.2 trillion. Growth is expected to be led by public market securities – particularly U.S. equities and treasuries – rather than private markets, where adoption remains early-stage and structurally constrained.Three forces underpin this shift. First, major financial market infrastructure providers, including the Depository Trust &amp; Clearing Corporation (DTCC), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and Nasdaq, are integrating tokenization into core issuance, trading and settlement workflows, moving well beyond experimentation. Second, the growth of regulated on-chain money, including stablecoins (projected at $1.9 trillion by 2030) and tokenized deposits, is providing the settlement foundation that earlier tokenization efforts lacked. Third, regulatory clarity is improving across key jurisdictions.

Wall Street On-Chain

The tokenization of financial assets – the representation of securities as digital tokens on blockchain infrastructure – is moving from pilot stage toward operational deployment. After years of slow progress held back by regulatory uncertainty, fragmented infrastructure and the absence of on-chain settlement money, adoption is now accelerating.

Tokenization 2030

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The way you interact with market intelligence is changing. In fast moving markets, static information no longer keeps up. The reimagined Market Guide introduces a dynamic, AI-powered experience that transforms insight into real time perspective. Powered by deep local expertise and Citi’s global market network, it delivers clarity, context, and confidence—bringing you closer to the markets that matter.Discover what’s possible when market intelligence moves at the speed of today’s markets. Contact your Citi representative to learn how Market Guide can help your team access the intelligence they need, when and how they need it.

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The way you interact with market intelligence is changing. In fast moving markets, static information no longer keeps up. The reimagined Market Guide introduces a dynamic, AI-powered experience that transforms insight into real time perspective. Powered by deep local expertise and Citi’s global market network, it delivers clarity, context, and confidence—bringing you closer to the markets that matter. Discover what’s possible when market intelligence moves at the speed of today’s markets. Contact your Citi representative to learn how Market Guide can help your team access the intelligence they need, when and how they need it.

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<ul><li data-list-item-id="e55efd8a2bb807a50a27b9f1438ee4bcf">Banks face accelerating disintermediation risk in cross-border payments as fintechs and non-bank providers capture payment flows, client relationships and FX revenue by delivering faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payment experiences</li><li data-list-item-id="e31d2647c9ae4a8667faf409110ef5715">Real-time cross-border payments, ISO 20022 adoption, AI-powered services and digital assets including stablecoins and tokenized deposits are redefining competitive advantage — making infrastructure modernization and interoperability essential for banks to retain corporate and institutional clients</li><li data-list-item-id="eb497eb6262f3b82aa5e926a20936fce5">Banks that strategically partner to extend cross-border payment reach, embed value-added services like intelligent FX integration, real-time tracking and automated reconciliation, and treat payments as a relationship anchor will be best positioned to win in an increasingly digital global payments landscape</li></ul>

Client expectations have fundamentally shifted, with real-time settlement, end-to-end transparency, API and AI-powered services and digital assets now defining what exceptional cross-border payment experiences look like. Banks that move beyond simply moving money — delivering seamless, connected and data-rich payment solutions — are best positioned to deepen client relationships and capture new growth opportunities in a rapidly evolving global payments landscape.

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Client expectations have fundamentally shifted, with real-time settlement, end-to-end transparency, API and AI-powered services and digital assets now defining what exceptional cross-border payment experiences look like. Read more.