According to Ledger Insights, a recent survey of 100 investment professionals in London by Northern Trust showed that 34% of respondents have already invested in digital assets or plan to invest soon. Regarding which assets are most likely to be tokenized first, two-thirds believe that private assets will benefit the most, followed by commodities and real estate (53%), and money market funds (36%).

“These findings highlight both the opportunities and challenges as our clients address their data needs through the convergence of emerging digital assets and advanced technologies,” said Pete Cherecwich, Northern Trust’s newly appointed chief operating officer.

Earlier, a State Street survey of 300 investment institutions around the world in June showed that 62% of institutions have established dedicated digital asset functions, and the vast majority of others (except 5%) plan to create such functions. Despite being optimistic about the potential benefits of digital assets, more than half (58%) of the respondents believe that it may take a decade or more for digital assets to become mainstream, especially the interoperability between traditional finance and decentralized finance.