Contributing Editor at Large | Former Deputy Editor in Chief
American Banker Live Media | CoinDesk
Nick Baker is a contributing editor at large for American Banker Live Media and is the founder of Byline Strategies, a communications consultancy for financial markets and crypto. Nick won a Gerald Loeb Award as deputy editor-in-chief of CoinDesk, where he oversaw the reporting that exposed Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX fraud. He spent 16 years at Bloomberg News as a reporter, editor, and manager covering U.S. markets and market structure, and began his career at Dow Jones Newswires. His bylines have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Bloomberg Markets. He has been a guest on NPR's Planet Money podcast.
As digital assets move from the fringe into institutional portfolios and market infrastructure, custody has emerged as the critical control point in the value chain. For traditional financial institutions, digital asset custody is no longer a niche offering—it is the foundation that determines who owns client relationships, who controls risk, and who participates in the next phase of tokenized markets.
This panel will explore the biggest opportunities and unresolved issues facing TradFi executives as they evaluate digital asset custody strategies. Panelists will discuss how custody underpins trading, settlement, tokenization, and payments; where banks have a natural advantage—and where they face new forms of operational and regulatory risk; and what decisions leadership teams must make in the next 12–24 months to preserve relevance and optionality. The conversation will focus on strategic choices, governance, economics, and execution realities, equipping executives with a framework to assess whether—and how—to engage, including:
As the financial industry explores the next wave of innovation, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) has emerged as one of the most promising—yet misunderstood—frontiers. From bonds and real estate to trade finance and private credit, tokenization offers the potential for greater liquidity, transparency, and efficiency. But despite its promise, widespread adoption remains limited by regulatory uncertainty, technical integration challenges, and market readiness.
This panel discussion will explore the real benefits and the practical obstacles of tokenization, giving TradFi on-chain newcomers a grounded understanding of where the value truly lies, what barriers must be addressed, and how TradFi institutions can strategically engage in this evolving landscape. Among the topics to be addressed: