Exclusive Interview with Dynamic Zone: Fidelity Digital Assets Manager Emma Pecenicic Reveals: The Endgame of Tokenization is to Create a "Pure Digital Native" Fund

The world’s top three asset management firms, Fidelity, shares how tokenization is driving financial transformation: from collaborating with regulators to establish digital-native funds, to testing cross-border real-time settlement in Asia. The ultimate goal is to bring institutional-level 24/7 trading efficiency to retail investors. For more exclusive interviews, please visit the “2026 New Year Special Edition.”

(Background recap: Fidelity announced the launch of the US dollar stablecoin FIDD! Compliant with GENIUS Act regulations, deployed on Ethereum)

(Additional background: Fidelity’s 2026 crypto market outlook report: more countries may establish Bitcoin reserves, and long-term holding of BTC remains advantageous)

Table of Contents

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• 24/7 real-time settlement and around-the-clock trading are necessary to meet future investors’ needs
• Fidelity’s perspective on sandbox experiments with Ethereum protocols
• Asia’s fragmented environment is not an obstacle but a catalyst for tokenization innovation
• The purpose of tokenization

Exclusive interview with Fidelity’s Global Digital Assets Head Emma Pecenicic, who oversees all cutting-edge areas from crypto ETFs to tokenization.

In this conversation, Emma delves into Fidelity’s view on the ultimate goals of tokenization, why they are conducting advanced cross-border experiments in Asia, and how this technology will evolve from an “efficiency game” among institutions to a true “financial democratization” revolution for retail investors.

24/7 real-time settlement and around-the-clock trading are necessary to meet future investors’ needs

DigiZone Alex: Hello Emma! You’ve emphasized multiple times that the ultimate goal of tokenization is to create “purely digital native funds,” meaning tokens themselves are fund shares. This directly challenges core infrastructure within large institutions like Fidelity, such as “transfer agents.” How are you addressing the internal challenges and risks this entails?

Emma: That’s a very core question. First, achieving “purely digital native funds” hinges on a clear regulatory framework. We need legal clarity that tokens held on the blockchain have genuine and enforceable legal ownership. This is why we actively participate in global regulatory sandboxes and maintain close communication with regulators.

Second, regarding internal infrastructure challenges, we recognize that change is for better service in the future. Interestingly, many think traditional finance is slow, but actually, our largest money market funds already settle T+0 and offer five clearings per day.

Therefore, the value of tokenization isn’t just about speed; it’s about better. Our goal is real-time settlement and 24/7 around-the-clock trading—that’s the real leap to meet the expectations of the new generation of investors growing up in crypto.

Fidelity’s perspective on sandbox experiments with Ethereum protocols

DigiZone Alex: In your Hong Kong sandbox, you tested both the mainstream ERC20 standard and the embedded compliance-enabled ERC3643 standard. In your view, is embracing ERC20’s liquidity more important in the future, or is maintaining on-chain compliant identity via ERC3643 more critical?

Emma: Our experiments have been very insightful. ERC3643 allows us to explore digital identity on-chain, which is crucial for future compliance. But we must be pragmatic. The reality is, over 50% of RWA issuances are on Ethereum, and almost all are ERC20. This means, if you want the broadest distribution and liquidity today, ERC20 remains the market choice.

So I see this not as an either/or dilemma but as a stage of development. The market isn’t ready for large-scale adoption of ERC3643 yet, but through sandbox testing, we’re paving the way to understand what infrastructure needs to be built for on-chain identity to truly take off.

Asia’s fragmented environment is not an obstacle but a catalyst for tokenization innovation

DigiZone Alex: You’ve chosen Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore) for advanced cross-border payments and tokenization experiments. What strategic considerations are behind this? Is Asia’s high fragmentation in regulation and markets actually providing a better testing ground than Europe or the US?

Emma: Absolutely. Asia’s sandbox environment offers excellent exploration opportunities.

For example, in Hong Kong, we partnered with Australia’s Westpac to enable Australian clients to exchange “digital AUD” for “digital HKD” to purchase our tokenized funds. This process perfectly simulates on-chain “Delivery Versus Payment” (DVP) and “Payment Versus Payment” (PvP), validating the possibility of bypassing traditional custodians for efficient cross-border settlement.

In Singapore’s “Guardians Program,” we collaborated with Citi to provide tokenized money market funds and tokenized FX swaps for corporate treasury clients, helping them manage cash and hedge currency risks. These experiments, difficult to conduct in mature, single-market regions like Europe or the US, find suitable scenarios in Asia. The fragmentation here isn’t an obstacle but a catalyst for innovation.

The purpose of tokenization

DigiZone Alex: You mention one goal of tokenization is “financial democratization,” but currently most products are still aimed at institutions. How do you see tokenization truly benefiting retail investors? Is it just an “efficiency game” among institutions, or will it evolve into a “distribution game” accessible to retail?

Emma: I see it as both an “efficiency game” now and a “distribution game” in the future.

Currently, our core users are indeed on-chain institutions, such as stablecoin issuers, DAO treasuries, and crypto hedge funds.

For them, tokenized money market funds are perfect high-efficiency tools for reserve management, asset appreciation, and as collateral—enabling liquidity without transferring ownership.

But this is just our first step. Our long-term vision is to reach the younger generation whose first investment experience is in crypto. They are digital natives, expecting instant, 24/7 financial services.

To bring them into traditional wealth management, we must offer products in familiar ways—on crypto platforms, with features they expect. That’s why we’re developing products with real-time settlement and 24/7 trading, aiming to eventually bring the efficiencies and opportunities once exclusive to institutions to the broader retail investor base.