Navigating global headwinds: Digital money in tokenized markets

August 2025

Digital money is no longer a future concept; it is a rapidly maturing reality. At the Point Zero Forum in May 2025, stakeholders assessed progress and challenges in the evolving digital currency landscape. The discussion revealed digital money is rather fragmented and not consolidating, with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, and tokenized deposits all gaining traction simultaneously. Each is optimized for different use cases, from cross-border remittances to capital markets integration, and reshaping global financial infrastructure.

Yet, this momentum faces friction. Regulatory divergence, infrastructure fragmentation, and implicit geopolitical rivalry define this transformation. While stablecoins, whose circulation is projected by some analysts like Citi to reach between $1.6 trillion and $3.7 trillion by 2030 (Citigroup, 2023), race ahead in adoption—especially in emerging markets—public sector innovation, including CBDCs, trails. Consequently, private digital money formats shape the financial system faster than public initiatives, raising urgent questions around monetary sovereignty, interoperability, and risk resilience.