Former Goldman Sachs crypto government Oliver Harris, who has returned to the TradFi world as JPMorgan’s new blockchain chief, as soon as mentioned he believes tokenization alone will not repair certainly one of finance’s core challenges, warning that placing belongings on blockchain rails does not routinely make them simpler to commerce.
“Tokenization does not equal liquidity,” Harris, who will probably be main JPM’s Kinexys division, mentioned throughout a panel at Consensus Toronto final 12 months because the founder and CEO of Arda, a startup that Harris labored on for a 12 months and a half.
The remark underscores a extra cautious view of one of many business’s largest narratives as Harris takes over Kinexys.
In a LinkedIn post on Tuesday, Harris mentioned his focus will probably be on increasing digital settlement infrastructure, advancing tokenization capabilities and strengthening partnerships throughout each private and non-private blockchain networks.
“The work sits at the foundation of the next era of market structure: how money, assets, and information moves onchain,” he wrote.
During his panel final 12 months, Harris additionally mirrored on his personal path by way of the business, noting repeated makes an attempt to deliver tokenization into mainstream finance. “I think I would call this my third hell loop,” he mentioned, referencing roles at JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and his startup Arda. He added that this time could also be totally different given current progress in expertise and regulation.
His broader argument is that actual change will come not from tokenizing particular person belongings however from transforming the methods that assist them. “I get more interested about global settlement layer, where you can merge money, assets and data onto one software platform,” he mentioned.
That shift may streamline how markets function. “You can basically rip out the back end of these incumbent legacy industries and replace them with… blockchains,” he mentioned, describing a future the place markets run repeatedly and belongings can work together extra simply.
Harris returns to JPMorgan after earlier roles on the financial institution and at Goldman Sachs, the place he labored on tokenization efforts. He mentioned earlier waves of experimentation fell brief because of immature expertise and unclear regulation.
“The technology is now fit for purpose,” he mentioned, including that “enterprise grade regulations were really not there” earlier than.
Before rejoining JPMorgan, Harris spent a couple of 12 months and a half constructing Arda, a platform geared toward making actual property belongings programmable and simpler to commerce.
He mentioned in the course of the panel that he now sees the business nearing a turning level. “Now [is the] best time in history to look at real world assets,” he mentioned.
His appointment comes as giant banks enhance funding in blockchain infrastructure, betting that sooner settlement methods and tokenized belongings may reshape how international finance operates.
