Web3 to Onchain Finance
Today, nearly every financial institution in the United States has a crypto asset management team. Those who do not are being left behind. The SEC's Project Crypto represents a commitment to bring U.S. financial markets onchain within the next few years. In addition, the Clarity Act, currently under deliberation, will establish clear legal definitions distinguishing securities from non-securities, further strengthening America's leadership in this area.
At first glance, these moves look like government-level promotion of crypto assets. But interpreting this as financial institutions simply strengthening their crypto exposure misses the bigger picture. What is truly gaining legitimacy is not crypto assets alone, but the tokenization of all financial assets. For those of us who have been in crypto for years, this requires a shift in mindset. The opportunity is no longer just about tokens like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but about representing all financial infrastructure onchain. Fail to recognize this, and you risk falling behind.
Under these new rules, virtually every asset will be tokenized: gold, commodities like oil and natural gas, indices like the Nikkei and S&P 500, and intellectual property. We are moving beyond crypto asset management toward managing all financial assets onchain, fundamentally disrupting traditional finance.
This wave of onchain adoption is inevitable. Onchain assets offer significant advantages over traditional financial products:
- 24/7 liquidity: The concept of market closures will disappear. Five years from now, we might look back and say, "Remember when stock exchanges had lunch breaks? Like a school recess."
- Instant ownership transfer and settlement: Ownership rights over any physical asset can be transferred immediately without intermediaries.
- Unprecedented accessibility: Investment becomes possible in extremely small amounts, enabling early wealth-building at scales that traditional financial products were never designed to accommodate.
- AI-native infrastructure: As AI continues to evolve, the primary actors in payments and asset management will shift from humans to AI agents. It is not hard to imagine AI holding a smart address on a blockchain and autonomously managing assets, far more efficiently than relying on a personal banker to execute trades. Smart contracts and AI complement each other naturally.
This is also why stablecoins are likely to become the foundational currency of onchain transactions. At Startale, we are developing asset tokenization infrastructure and stablecoins hand in hand. We are building true vertical integration in Japan, and as all assets become tokenized, we will see the rise of fully integrated interfaces such as SuperApps and crypto-native neobanks. I am fully committed to bringing this vision to life.
We should be excited about standing at this historical turning point. While Japan has been cautious, America will keep pushing innovation forward. In three to five years, Japan will inevitably catch up, as it always does. The real question is whether Japanese companies will seize the opportunity to lead in this new era or fall behind as global players expand locally.
The era of treating crypto as a separate asset class is ending. We need to redefine asset management under the premise that all assets, including crypto, will move onchain.
Sota Watanabe, Founder & CEO, Startale Group
Original text in Japanese translated and supplemented with additional commentary.