In Davos (January 19–23, 2026), a noticeable shift took hold within the banking community: digital assets were discussed less as a speculative playground and more as a question of financial infrastructure. Two strands dominated side conversations, panels, and interviews: (1) interoperability of central bank digital currencies and regulated token rails, and (2) the tokenization of “premium collateral” such as gold, enabling faster, more global, and more precise collateral mobility.
1) Standardization and interoperability: CBDCs are becoming a network problem
The key takeaway from central bankers and commercial banks alike is simple: a digital currency is only as useful as its ability to connect. François Villeroy de Galhau (Banque de France) captured this direction clearly in a recent address on the future payments architecture, highlighting tokenization as a driver of faster settlement and lower costs — explicitly pointing to a revolution in cross-border payments, noting that tokenization “can revolutionise cross-border payments.”
In the same remarks, he outlined plans for a wholesale CBDC pilot in the euro area by the end of 2026, designed to enable settlement of tokenized assets in central bank money. In parallel, work continues under initiatives such as “Appia” on interoperability standards and the eligibility of tokenized collateral for monetary policy operations. The underlying message is sober but decisive: standards first, magic later. Without common technical baselines — messaging formats, identity frameworks, compliance checks, settlement finality, and bridges to existing rails — every CBDC risks remaining a national island.
From a banking perspective, the logical follow-up is unavoidable: if multiple forms of digital money coexist (tokenized deposits, stablecoins, CBDCs), the system will require defined “translators.” This interoperability mindset also shaped many Davos discussions around hybrid payment architectures: not “fiat versus crypto,” but fiat plus token rails plus compliance, operating as a blended system.
2) Tokenized gold: collateral mobility becomes the killer app
While CBDC interoperability often sounds futuristic, tokenized collateral is already strikingly tangible. A strong reference case comes from Euroclear together with Digital Asset and the World Gold Council, where a pilot successfully demonstrated the tokenization of gold, gilts, and eurobonds for collateral management.
Olivier Grimonpont (Euroclear) summarized the practical value succinctly: “As we strive to deliver even better and faster collateral mobilisation for our clients, digital technologies like DLT will be key enablers …” Translated into bank reality: when collateral can move faster and more efficiently, friction costs — and expensive liquidity buffers — shrink. Tokenization stops being “Web3” and becomes operational efficiency.
Reuters interviews with bank CEOs reinforce this signal. HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery pointed to real-world traction, noting that the bank’s tokenized gold product in Hong Kong achieved “mass adoption by retail customers.” Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters went even further, framing the long-term direction of the entire system: “Pretty much all transactions will settle on blockchains eventually, and that all money will be digital.”
These are not crypto-romantic slogans; they are banker shorthand for a structural shift in settlement logic and monetary form.
What does this mean beyond the Davos fog?
Interoperability is emerging as the real center of gravity. Those who help define standards — central banks, financial market infrastructures, and large banking consortia — shape not only technology, but also compliance reality: KYC/AML, travel rules, sanctions screening, data protection, and liability.
Tokenized gold functions as a kind of “live-fire test.” Gold is globally understood, highly liquid, and already established as prime collateral — making it an ideal proving ground for whether public or permissioned blockchains can coexist with strict regulatory requirements without triggering institutional panic.
In short, Davos 2026 feels like the moment when banks and central banks quietly accepted that modernizing SWIFT-like processes will not come from a single super-chain, but from compatible standards, tokenized collateral, and digital settlement rails. The financial system is not being reinvented — it is being rewired.