How ready is the financial industry for the tokenisation of money? Lessons from APAC

Following an EPAA workshop on the tokenisation of money at Money20/20 Asia, Camilla Bullock, CEO and Co-Founder of the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), shares why technology is no longer the biggest hurdle - and what the global financial industry must do to turn tokenised money into reality.

At Money20/20 Asia, EPAA brought together industry stakeholders to assess the payments ecosystem's readiness for tokenised money. What prompted the workshop and what were the key findings?

EPAA's April 2026 workshop at Money20/20 Asia brought together banks, payment infrastructure providers, fintechs, and digital asset businesses to assess how ready the payments ecosystem is for tokenised money in APAC. The finding was that technology is no longer the limiting factor. Participants agreed that the custody models, compliance capabilities, and settlement infrastructure exist, and one can easily find examples of how companies are already moving billions annually on stablecoin rails. The challenge is now coordination: between institutions at different stages of readiness, between regulatory approaches across jurisdictions, and between the infrastructure that's available today and the willingness of institutions to use it at scale.

What does readiness for tokenised money actually mean? Where did participants disagree most about current readiness?

One of the biggest outcomes from the workshop was that we realised people were using the word ‘readiness’ to mean very different things. For some, readiness meant the technology, whether the infrastructure, custody and settlement capabilities were in place. Others were thinking about regulation, governance, and risk. For banks, it often came down to whether they could safely offer these services to customers. For merchants and payment providers, the question was much simpler: can I use it to move money reliably and at a lower cost?

Across the industry, there is very little disagreement that the technology itself is ready. Where the discussion becomes more divided is what still needs to happen before we see broad adoption. Some believe the missing piece is greater regulatory clarity. Others feel the bigger challenge is getting different institutions, jurisdictions, and forms of tokenised money to actually work together.

To me, the next phase is all about coordination and alignment. Aligning regulation where possible, building common standards, and making it possible for different networks and different forms of tokenised money to interoperate. 

Which of these areas is currently the most mature, which is lagging behind, and what progress would need to happen over the next few years for the industry to consider itself truly ready?

As mentioned, technology is probably the furthest along.

Where we're still seeing different views is around regulation and trust. But I think it's important that we don't just look at the rules themselves. We also need to look at how they're applied, and whether they're applied consistently across borders, because that's how payments travel.

The Travel Rule is a good example. A stablecoin transaction can attract a very different level of scrutiny to an equivalent fiat payment, and that interpretation still varies from one jurisdiction to another. We need greater consistency in how stablecoins are treated for AML purposes. If a payment is performing the same economic function as fiat, I think it's fair to ask why the regulatory treatment is still so different depending on the jurisdiction.

FATF has an open consultation on this very topic, which tells us the issue is already on the industry's radar. The important thing now is making sure that, as we develop policy and regulation, we don't end up building solutions that work well domestically but don't interoperate with other markets.

So, in terms of maturity, I don't think the industry can call itself ready until a handful of corridors move beyond successful workshops and pilots to live, end-to-end commercial use.

What practical benefits could tokenised money bring to banks, PSPs, and corporates?

Tokenised money, whether that's a stablecoin or a tokenised bank deposit, gives us the ability to move value 24/7 and settle almost in real time rather than waiting for banking hours. By 2030, I don't think that'll be seen as innovation. It'll just be how money moves. And I don't think this is banks versus crypto; it's banks and Web 3 infrastructure working together, so a payment can move on whichever rail makes the most sense.

For banks and PSPs, the opportunity is to remain the trusted place where value settles rather than watching customers migrate to whoever solves the cross-border payment problem first. For corporates, it's simpler. Less capital tied up waiting for settlement, better visibility, and greater certainty over when funds have actually arrived.

I also think this becomes increasingly important as AI agents begin making payments on our behalf. A human payment has a person behind it. An AI payment has to operate within pre-defined rules. Tokenised money is well suited to that because you can embed conditions into the payment itself and create a clear record of what the agent was authorised to do. That's what programmability actually buys you here: governance built into the payment itself rather than a check that happens after the fact.

What can other regions learn from APAC's perspective?

I don't think the lesson from APAC is that we've solved everything. In many ways we're more fragmented than anywhere else. We have different regulatory approaches, different levels of digital maturity, different currencies, and very different domestic payment systems.

But I actually think that's our strength. Because we've never had the luxury of assuming one model would fit everyone, we've become very good at thinking about interoperability rather than standardisation. You see that in projects like Nexus, Project Ensemble, and the work happening across ASEAN. Those projects are about finding ways to make systems work together.

Increasingly, the conversation is less about whether stablecoins, tokenised deposits, or CBDCs will win, and more about how the interoperability layer makes them all work alongside each other, and how we avoid silos.

If there's one lesson other regions can take from APAC, it's that the future probably won't be built on a single model. And with that comes the importance of building systems that are open, but well governed.

Which topics remain under-discussed?

Digital identity, particularly making it interoperable across borders, I feel, doesn't get the attention it deserves given how much depends on it. At almost every conference, the spotlight is on tokenised money and, increasingly, agentic AI. As soon as you start talking about AI agents making payments, the conversation inevitably turns to identity.

We hear a lot about KYA, Know Your Agent, and the need to be able to trace an agent's authority back to the person or organisation that authorised it. But that only works if the identity underneath can actually be verified across borders. That's a challenge we've been grappling with for years. Tokenised money and AI agents haven't created a new problem; they've simply made an existing one much harder to ignore.

What should organisations be doing now to prepare for 2030?

The biggest mistake organisations can make is trying to predict which technology will win. I don't think that's the right question. By 2030 we'll almost certainly be operating in a world where traditional payment rails, tokenised money, and AI agents all exist alongside each other.

The organisations that do well will be the ones building flexibility now. That means understanding where tokenisation genuinely creates value, making sure data and identity can move across borders, and designing governance that allows AI to operate within clear limits. Just as importantly, they should be engaging with the wider industry; none of this gets solved by one organisation working alone.

Above all, don't wait for everything to be settled. Most of the foundations you'll need by 2030; interoperability, data quality, digital identity and governance, are worth investing in today, regardless of which technology ends up seeing the greatest adoption.

About author

Camilla Bullock is an entrepreneur, connector, and recognised leader in the global payments industry.

As CEO and Co-Founder of the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), she has positioned the organisation as the voice of payments in the Asia-Pacific region and an advocate on the global stage. Since its founding in 2018, EPAA has become a trusted counterpart in international dialogue, contributing actively to FSB task forces and the G20 agenda to enhance payments, drive innovation, and improve cross-border interoperability.

Camilla’s career in financial technology began in London, where she spent 14 years in various roles at Reuters, now part of LSEG. Her work in the payments sector reflects a consistent focus on uniting industry leaders and accelerating innovation across the ecosystem.
Beyond her role at EPAA, she founded the ‘Meet-Her She Knows Payments’ initiative, which champions female thought leadership in the payments industry and reinforces diversity as a driver of innovation. She also serves on the board of the Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce and mentors emerging talent, reflecting her commitment to shaping the next generation of payments leaders.

She believes that real thought leadership means convening diverse voices, defining the problem clearly, and collaborating to grow the ecosystem rather than compete for its edges.

About Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA)

The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA) is a leading membership organisation for innovative businesses in the Asia Pacific payments ecosystem, including payment schemes, banks, issuers, merchant acquirers, PSPs, technology providers, and wallets. With a strong membership base, policy connections, a thought leader community, and seats in international task forces, EPAA organises industry-shaping topic discussions, think tanks, and networking events.