#OKXToken2049CheckIn

Over the past decade or so, blockchain seems to have been repeating a story: every few years, there is a breakout surge that goes viral, followed by silence after the bubble bursts. But as of 2026, this story appears to be changing. Recently, Japanese financial regulators have been promoting the securities industry to explore blockchain settlement, with Japanese securities firms and major banks already conducting related trials. The South Korean Financial Services Commission recently announced plans to promote the tokenized issuance and circulation of traditional securities such as stocks, bonds, and funds starting from February next year. Meanwhile, many overseas financial institutions are also reassessing blockchain. Morgan Stanley recently established a Digital Asset Lab to test applications like stablecoins, asset tokenization, and DeFi; OKX, which received investment from the New York Stock Exchange's parent company, recently submitted an application to the SEC to launch a tokenized US stock platform. Taken together, these moves show that blockchain is no longer just a topic discussed within the crypto industry's small circle, but traditional financial institutions are actively researching how to use it. If we look at blockchain's past development in a larger cycle, its process is actually not unusual: from concept hype, to market cooling, and then to finding applications that can truly be implemented. The difference is that in the past, the discussion was more about whether blockchain could disrupt the financial industry. Now the question has become how financial institutions can truly turn blockchain into their own infrastructure. Which directions deserve our focused attention? Gartner already covered this in its 2024 Web3 and Blockchain Technology Maturity Report.