SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom Says 'All Assets Will Be Tokenized... Financial Asset Infrastructure Will Be Reshaped' [Tokenomy Korea 2026]

[Financial News]"Now, all transactions and assets will be tokenized, and trading will be possible 24 hours a day. This is not simply a shift from financial assets to cryptocurrency, but can be seen as a kind of 'geopolitical transition.'"
Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink, made the remarks during his keynote speech at 'Tokenomy Korea 2026,' jointly hosted by Financial News and DAXA at KRX in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 11th.
Under the theme of 'The Future Transformation of Financial Markets,' Chalom said the trust system across financial services is changing. He explained that the financial system had long been built on trust based on human and institutional intermediaries, but that structure is now weakening.
He said the traditional trust structure is being replaced by a blockchain-based, verifiable system. Chalom stated, "Blockchain is becoming the connective layer between governance and financial services," and added, "We are rebuilding trust from the design stage through verifiable and transparent systems."
He continued, "The existing trust system was highly inefficient. The annual cost of maintaining it reached $9.3 trillion, and settlement took several days." He added, "But global financial infrastructure is being rewritten as an 'open tokenized system,' with 24-hour trading and instant, real-time settlement now becoming possible."
He also said Ethereum could become a key foundation. He pointed to the fact that no network downtime has occurred on Ethereum over the past 10 years, and that it has protected trillions of dollars on-chain to date.
Chalom said, "A wide range of major financial institutions and virtual asset companies are already being built on the Ethereum ecosystem," and predicted that "as financial assets move on-chain, demand for Ethereum will rise sharply."
He added, "Blockchain-based on-chain innovation is accelerating, and there are now many cases in which AI agents are carrying out actual payments and investments." He said institutions are no longer in the 'experiment' stage, but are deploying capital on-chain in practice. He also noted that the on-chain market has grown to a scale with real liquidity and utility.
SharpLink is a digital asset treasury strategy company that ranks second globally among listed firms in Ethereum holdings. Chalom joined SharpLink as co-CEO in July last year after spending 20 years at BlackRock. While at BlackRock, he helped lead the launch of cryptocurrency products including spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds, as well as tokenized money market funds and BUIDL.

yimsh0214@fnnews.com Im Sang-hyeok Reporter