Wall Street’s long-awaited migration into crypto is not theoretical, in accordance to executives from Ondo Finance, Robinhood-owned Bitstamp and Babylon Labs. However, 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 Street Herd STILL Coming?” panel at Consensus Miami 2026.
“I think it’s very clear that Wall Street is coming to crypto,” mentioned Ondo President Ian De Bode, pointing to latest partnerships with Broadridge and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) geared toward tokenizing securities and enabling blockchain-based shareholder voting.
Robinhood’s Nicola White mentioned that the dialog with banks has shifted dramatically over the previous two years. “We’re not having conversations anymore about what blockchain is,” she mentioned. “Now it’s about, how do we help them build?”
The panelists emphasised that crypto infrastructure already improves on conventional finance by way of settlement velocity and market accessibility. De Bode famous Ondo’s tokenized treasury merchandise permit traders to mint and redeem positions over weekends whereas incomes a every day yield, capabilities nonetheless largely unavailable in conventional cash markets.
“That in and of itself as a value prop is mind-blowing to many in TradFi,” he mentioned.
Still, the audio system acknowledged institutional adoption stays constrained by legacy monetary infrastructure and regulation. White mentioned banks proceed to build crypto merchandise cautiously whereas ready for clearer regulatory steerage.
“There’s not a traditional finance Wall Street company we’ve talked to that has said this isn’t something they’re thinking about,” she mentioned.
Babylon Labs’ Boris Alergant argued establishments are more and more centered on capital effectivity quite than merely bitcoin worth appreciation. He mentioned Babylon’s bitcoin-backed lending merchandise are designed to let traders borrow in opposition to native bitcoin holdings with out relinquishing custody via wrapped belongings or centralized intermediaries.
The panel additionally highlighted a rising divide between regulated U.S. markets and offshore crypto ecosystems. De Bode mentioned permissionless innovation in decentralized finance will possible proceed to flourish exterior the United States, at the same time as banks undertake extra managed blockchain-based techniques domestically.
“I don’t see a world in which everything that happens offshore finds a home in the U.S.,” he mentioned.
Despite the bifurcation, panelists broadly agreed that the 2 techniques will finally converge as institutional capital and crypto-native liquidity deepen.
