Fidelity’s Matthew Horne says the line between TradFi and onchain finance may vanish

Key Takeaways

Fidelity's Matthew Horne believes the line between traditional finance and onchain finance will disappear, leaving behind what he called 'just finance'.

Background

Horne leads Fidelity's digital asset strategists and made the comments during a panel at Longitude Singapore on October 8, 2026. The topic was institutional tokenization, the process of representing traditional assets like funds or bonds as tokens on a blockchain.

Horne's Comments

Horne described the movement of institutional assets onchain as rapid and irreversible. He singled out US asset managers as especially motivated, citing better access for investors and the ability to break into new markets.

Tokenized Assets

Demand for tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins, climbed 41% over the prior 30 days. The number of holders reached 493,000. Tokenized money-market and Treasury products also solve a practical problem for onchain users, giving them a way to park capital in yield-bearing, familiar assets without leaving blockchain rails.

Implications

For investors, the most direct implication is product choice. Horne's emphasis on investor access and new markets points squarely in that direction. The holder count is the metric to track here, with tokenized real-world assets still a niche product.

Conclusion

Horne's framing rejects the rivalry between traditional and decentralized finance. In his view, onchain finance might not replace traditional finance so much as absorb into it, or vice versa, until nobody bothers with the labels.