Wall Road’s long-awaited migration into crypto is now not theoretical, in response to executives from Ondo Finance, Robinhood-owned Bitstamp and Babylon Labs. Nevertheless, institutional adoption stays slower and extra fragmented than many within the trade as soon as anticipated.
The executives described a monetary trade more and more embracing blockchain rails, tokenized securities and crypto-native yield merchandise on the “Is the Wall Road Herd STILL Coming?” panel at Consensus Miami 2026.
“I believe it’s very clear that Wall Road is coming to crypto,” stated Ondo President Ian De Bode, pointing to current partnerships with Broadridge and the Depository Belief & Clearing Company (DTCC) geared toward tokenizing securities and enabling blockchain-based shareholder voting.
Robinhood’s Nicola White stated that the dialog with banks has shifted dramatically over the previous two years. “We’re not having conversations anymore about what blockchain is,” she stated. “Now it’s about, how will we assist them construct?”
The panelists emphasised that crypto infrastructure already improves on conventional finance by way of settlement pace and market accessibility. De Bode famous Ondo’s tokenized treasury merchandise enable buyers to mint and redeem positions over weekends whereas incomes a day by day yield, capabilities nonetheless largely unavailable in conventional cash markets.
“That in and of itself as a price prop is mind-blowing to many in TradFi,” he stated.
Nonetheless, the audio system acknowledged institutional adoption stays constrained by legacy monetary infrastructure and regulation. White stated banks proceed to construct crypto merchandise cautiously whereas ready for clearer regulatory steering.
“There’s not a conventional finance Wall Road firm we’ve talked to that has stated this isn’t one thing they’re occupied with,” she stated.
Babylon Labs’ Boris Alergant argued establishments are more and more targeted on capital effectivity reasonably than merely bitcoin value appreciation. He stated Babylon’s bitcoin-backed lending merchandise are designed to let buyers borrow in opposition to native bitcoin holdings with out relinquishing custody by wrapped belongings or centralized intermediaries.
The panel additionally highlighted a rising divide between regulated U.S. markets and offshore crypto ecosystems. De Bode stated permissionless innovation in decentralized finance will doubtless proceed to flourish exterior the US, at the same time as banks undertake extra managed blockchain-based methods domestically.
“I don’t see a world during which every little thing that occurs offshore finds a house within the U.S.,” he stated.
Regardless of the bifurcation, panelists broadly agreed that the 2 methods will ultimately converge as institutional capital and crypto-native liquidity deepen.