The Fidelity Ladder

Fidelity's framework for institutional tokenization adoption is deceptively simple: treasuries first, then stablecoins, then private credit, then alternatives. Each rung of the ladder requires the infrastructure built by the rung below it. Each rung unlocks a larger, less liquid, and more profitable asset class.

We are currently transitioning from the second rung to the third. The data as of early March 2026, the regulatory landscape, and the institutional deployment patterns all confirm it.

The Treasury Rung Is Built

Tokenized U.S. Treasuries sit at approximately $11 billion on-chain. BlackRock's BUIDL fund alone accounts for $2.4 billion, deployed across eight-plus blockchains and listed on Uniswap. Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund on Solana, Ondo's OUSG and USDY products, and Superstate's offerings fill out the rest. These products have distributed over $100 million in dividends since inception.

The Treasury rung served its purpose. It demonstrated that blockchain settlement works for standardized financial instruments. It attracted institutional capital that would never have touched a blockchain product absent the backing of a U.S. government security. And it created the on-ramps — wallets, KYC flows, compliance frameworks — that every subsequent rung depends on.

The DTCC's Canton Network partnership to tokenize DTC-custodied Treasury securities is the formalization of Treasury tokenization as permanent infrastructure, not a pilot.

The Stablecoin Rung Is Exploding

The stablecoin landscape underwent more change in the last 90 days than in the previous two years combined. Total market capitalization crossed $301 billion as of March 9 according to RWA.xyz. The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, created the federal framework, and regulators are racing toward the July 2026 implementation deadline.

Tether launched USAT — a U.S.-focused, GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoin issued through Anchorage Digital Bank with Cantor Fitzgerald as reserve custodian. Fidelity launched FIDD, backed by cash and short-term Treasuries. Stripe's Bridge unit received conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank charter, with its Open Issuance platform enabling businesses to launch custom stablecoins.

The OCC granted national trust bank charters to Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo. In February 2026, Morgan Stanley applied for its own charter — a signal that bulge-bracket firms now view the stablecoin rails as core infrastructure, not an experiment.

USDC grew 73% in 2025 compared to USDT's 36%. That differential tells the story: institutional demand is for regulated stablecoins, not just stablecoins.

Solana processed $650 billion in stablecoin volume in February alone — more than double its previous record and the highest of any blockchain that month. The settlement layer is not theoretical. It is operating at scale.

Credit Unions as Stablecoin Issuers

The NCUA rulemaking, published February 12, is the most under-reported story in the GENIUS Act implementation cycle. Credit unions serve over 130 million members in the United States. They are federally regulated, operate under conservative balance sheet requirements, and have deep community roots.

If credit unions can issue stablecoins under the GENIUS Act framework, the implications extend beyond digital payments. A credit union stablecoin becomes a deposit alternative — one that can be held in a digital wallet, used for instant settlement of tokenized asset transactions, and potentially earn yield from underlying reserve assets. It gives community financial institutions a tool to compete with the fintech platforms that have been siphoning their deposits for a decade.

For the tokenization stack, credit union stablecoins would dramatically expand the settlement layer. A regional bank offering tokenized real estate could settle transactions using a stablecoin issued by a credit union in the same community. The entire cash flow — from investor deposit to stablecoin conversion to token purchase to yield distribution — stays within the regulated financial system.

The Private Credit Rung Is Opening

Private credit is a $1.7 trillion market that grew 75% between 2019 and 2024. It is also one of the most operationally intensive asset classes in finance. Origination involves bespoke documentation. Servicing involves manual payment processing. Secondary trading is nearly nonexistent. Reporting is inconsistent across managers.

Every one of those pain points is addressable through tokenization. Smart contracts can automate payment waterfalls. On-chain records provide transparent, real-time reporting. Token transfers enable secondary liquidity where none existed. Programmable compliance ensures transfer restrictions are enforced at the protocol level.

The institutions are moving. Securitize partnered with Partners Group and State Street to tokenize a private credit fund. Hamilton Lane tokenized three funds with minimums lowered from $5 million to $20,000. Apollo, KKR, and Ares have all explored tokenized structures for credit products.

Private credit also carries the highest fee potential for infrastructure providers. Treasury tokenization is commoditized — margins are thin. Private credit tokenization requires bespoke compliance, complex payment waterfall logic, and ongoing administration. The infrastructure serving this segment captures more value per dollar tokenized than any other asset class on the ladder.

The Alternatives Rung — Where We Are Headed

Real estate, commodities, infrastructure funds, and other alternative assets sit at the top of the Fidelity ladder. They require every piece of the stack simultaneously: compliant issuance under Regulation D or Regulation S, stablecoin settlement, identity verification and investor accreditation, programmable distributions, institutional custody, and eventually secondary liquidity.

This is the hardest rung to build for and the most valuable to own. The addressable market in U.S. commercial real estate alone is $3.5 trillion. Global alternatives exceed $15 trillion.

The current geopolitical environment — with oil above $115 on the Iran conflict, gold above $5,000, nonfarm payrolls negative, and recession odds elevated — makes the alternatives rung more urgent, not less. Institutional investors are rotating into physical assets and real yield. The infrastructure to deliver that yield through digital rails is exactly what the alternatives rung provides.

Solana's recent milestone — flipping Ethereum in RWA holder count as of March 7 with 154,942 wallets — demonstrates that the access layer for the alternatives rung is being built. Solana's RWA value doubled from $873 million to $1.8 billion in three months. The infrastructure is maturing on the chain where transaction costs are measured in fractions of a cent, making $1,000-minimum investments economically viable.

The Complexity Is the Moat

The institutions climbing the Fidelity ladder are building the infrastructure rung by rung. Treasuries proved the settlement rail. Stablecoins are being regulated into permanent infrastructure. Private credit is the current frontier. Alternatives are the destination.

The companies that build infrastructure for the alternatives rung will own the most valuable segment of the tokenization stack. Because unlike Treasuries and stablecoins, alternatives are not commoditized. They are complex, illiquid, and regulation-heavy. They require Golden Record architectures where legal entities maintain authority over on-chain representations. They require compliance layers that enforce investor accreditation at the token level. They require distribution partnerships with the regulated institutions that own the customer relationships.

That complexity is the moat. And it is exactly what the alternatives rung demands.

AVKI builds the infrastructure for the alternatives rung of institutional tokenization — enabling regional banks and asset managers to issue, administer, and distribute tokenized commercial real estate to their clients. The platform combines compliance-first architecture on Solana with bank-grade custody through Solo and stablecoin settlement via Circle USDC. To explore institutional deployment, contact the team at hey@av-ki.com.