The Digital Asset Inflection Point

Tim Rutka, in WealthManagement.com’s 2026 Midyear Outlook, shares his view on how firms must modernize to reduce risk and compete in faster, more complex markets.

The first half of this year brought us volatile markets, mixed regulatory signals, and loud conversations about AI. The wealth management firms that are positioned to navigate conditions in the second half of 2026 and beyond are those that have invested in modernizing their core technology and operations infrastructure.

Based on my experience, a successful path forward depends on a connected set of infrastructure priorities:

• Modernize and scale the core platform. Firms must evolve their underlying platforms to meet current and future demands. Reliability and scale are no longer table stakes; they are competitive differentiators. Firms need to transition from batch-based ledger capabilities and settlement flows to cloud-first, resilient platforms, data integration with a single source of truth, and always-on operating models. The long-term payoff of a more automated, AI-driven infrastructure is a big one – reduced manual effort, more predictable operations, the capability to address future requirements, and the ability for advisors and the operations teams that serve them to focus on higher-value work.
• Prepare for faster and more complex markets. The defining challenge over the next 18 months will be the introduction of digital assets into the trading, settlement, and asset servicing lifecycle. Preparing for digital assets requires more than faster operations; firms need end-to-end automation and real-time visibility into positions, balances, and fund availability – all while aligning with industry settlement standards. To keep pace with faster markets, firms will require stronger controls and a modern, cloud-based platform that unifies data, reduces risk, and supports faster change. By embracing this type of modernization, firms can advance toward the “no operations” (NoOps) model – in which humans intervene only when exceptions occur with fewer breaks, reconciliations, and operational surprises.
• Enable new digital asset opportunities. Digital assets are becoming platform requirements. Tokenization can reduce trade and settlement friction, support T+0, optimize collateral and bring digital assets into the same operating environment as traditional brokerage assets. With strong controls and near real-time data visibility, firms can improve the client experience, expand insights, compete more effectively, and make the onboarding, access and settlement of alternative assets more scalable.

For wealth firms, I believe the biggest opportunity is bringing digital assets into their own operating environment, rather than relying on a separate custody model. An integrated self-custody solution allows firms to maintain the right segregation, oversight, and risk controls while capturing more of the economics. It also unifies asset data, improves the client experience, and extends AI-driven insights across all asset classes.

To Really Accelerate Innovation, Infrastructure Must Come First

These priorities reinforce one another. Digital assets and tokenized securities all depend on the same foundation: integrated ledgers, automated trade and settlement flows, near real-time data, cloud-first architecture, and exception-based NoOps processing. As traditional finance and decentralized finance continue to converge, firms that modernize their core operating platforms will now be better positioned to reduce friction, strengthen controls, support emerging asset classes, and compete in the next phase of wealth management.

The future is challenging, but exciting. My BetaNXT colleagues and I are participating in the DTCC’s 50-plus firm working group on digital asset architecture, and an industry pilot will launch this summer. For wealth management firms, the message is clear: modernize now to reduce risk, unlock opportunity, and compete in a faster digital market.

Source: WealthManagement.com