Bank Leader Says Tokenizing Assets Won’t Make Them Liquid

Oliver Harris, now the head of JPMorgan’s blockchain unit, said tokenization alone will not solve liquidity problems. He told a crowd in Toronto that putting an asset on the blockchain does not automatically make it easier to trade. Harris has moved from Goldman Sachs and a small crypto start‑up back into the big bank world. He will run Kinexys, JPMorgan’s new division that focuses on digital settlement and tokenization. His message is a warning: technology must be paired with better systems. He believes that changing the underlying market infrastructure is more important than simply turning assets into tokens. The idea he promotes is a single global settlement layer that merges money, assets and data on one platform.Such a system could replace old legacy back‑ends with blockchain technology, making markets run continuously and trade more smoothly. Harris calls his career a “third hell loop” because he has tried to bring tokenization into mainstream finance at three different places. He thinks this time will be different because the technology has improved and regulations are clearer. He notes that earlier experiments failed when tools were immature or rules were vague. Now the technology is ready, he says, and banks are investing in infrastructure that could change global finance. His appointment shows that large banks see tokenized assets and faster settlements as a way to reshape markets.