The narrative surrounding digital assets is shifting in ways that are more consequential than many in the industry acknowledge. This week, the MBG team attended the Pay360 Conference in London. Conversations across the exhibition floor pointed to one clear theme: digital assets and tokenisation are entering a new phase of institutional adoption.

Across financial services, institutions are beginning to deploy capital on-chain. Stablecoins are gaining traction as payment rails, particularly in cross-border flows and treasury operations.

The question is no longer whether digital asset infrastructure can work, but how quickly it can be adopted at scale. Yet as the technology matures, a different constraint comes into focus. It is trust not capability, that is holding the market back.

Tokenisation is increasingly being positioned as part of the underlying architecture of financial services. Its advantages are well understood:

  • Faster settlement cycles that reduce counterparty risk
  • Improved liquidity in traditionally illiquid markets
  • Greater efficiency through programmable money

Stablecoins offer a more immediate illustration. Their growth reflects demand for more efficient and predictable settlement, particularly where traditional rails remain slow or fragmented.

Regulatory progress has also altered the landscape. Greater clarity from US and European authorities is enabling firms to move beyond pilot projects and into production environments. The direction of travel is towards a more interconnected system, defined by:

  • Multiple asset classes
  • Multiple payment rails
  • Real-time flows of value and data

However, while infrastructure is advancing, confidence may not be keeping pace.

For many institutional stakeholders, digital assets remain associated with volatility, opacity and operational risk. These perceptions are shaped as much by recent market failures as by unfamiliarity with the current generation of infrastructure.

The result is a gap between reality and perception.

Even as firms build systems for regulated financial markets, with governance, security and compliance built in, decision-makers are not asking whether they work. They are asking whether they can be relied upon under scrutiny.

In this context, communications becomes a strategic lever.

Much of the industry’s messaging remains anchored in innovation, emphasising speed, efficiency and technical differentiation. These attributes matter, but they do little to address the concerns that continue to limit adoption.

What is required is a shift from capability to credibility. Increasingly, firms are reframing their positioning in terms of infrastructure, interoperability and integration with existing financial systems. This reflects a broader transition from presenting digital assets as a parallel system to positioning them as an extension of the current one.

The next phase will raise expectations further. Emerging models point towards a more complex financial stack, combining traditional fiat, tokenised assets, multiple payment rails and AI-driven decision-making. As complexity increases, so too will scrutiny.

Trust will need to be demonstrated continuously.

If trust is now the primary barrier to adoption, firms need a more deliberate approach to how it is built and communicated:

  • Make trust visible: Regulatory approvals, compliance frameworks and institutional partnerships should be central to the narrative.
  • Anchor messaging in outcomes: Focus on liquidity, efficiency and cost reduction, not technical architecture.
  • Maintain consistency: Trust is built through repeated, coherent messaging across media and executive commentary.
  • Address risk directly: Demonstrating how challenges are managed signals maturity and builds confidence. So, don’t shy away from difficult industry themes.

These are the new requirements for competing in a more scrutinised market.

For a more detailed perspective on how firms can build and communicate trust, see our Trustability report.