[Block Festa 2026] Allen Monteiro of Parfin: "Tokenization Alone is Not Enough... Liquidity and Privacy are Key"

Discussion on the conditions for financial institutions' on-chain transition at Block Festa 2026

"Tokenization does not create liquidity... we need to select assets with existing demand"

"International payments between companies should also use stablecoins"... discussions ongoing with Korean financial institutions

[Reporter Oh Su-hwan, Block Media] It has been diagnosed that for financial institutions to fully transition to on-chain operations, it is not enough to simply tokenize assets; they must also secure liquidity and privacy. There needs to be an environment where tokenized assets can be traded in the actual market while protecting sensitive transaction information of financial institutions such as banks.

Allen Monteiro, Head of Asia-Pacific and Middle East Business Development at Parfin, stated this during a discussion with Tony Jeong, Head of Business Development at Block Media, on the topic of on-chain finance and asset tokenization at the "Block Festa 2026" held at the IFC The Forum in Yeouido, Seoul on the 1st.

Monteiro emphasized privacy as a key condition for financial institutions to adopt blockchain in their actual operations. He explained that banks find it difficult to disclose sensitive information such as asset holdings or fund management positions, and thus, there are limitations to expanding on-chain finance if all transaction information is made public.

He said, "Banks do not want to disclose their information on the chain" and added, "If you think about a situation where asset holdings or fund management positions are shown as they are, you can understand why privacy is important for financial institutions."

Accordingly, he believes that the transition of financial institutions to on-chain operations is likely to proceed in a way that utilizes both public and private blockchain characteristics. Sensitive information within financial institutions should be protected while allowing necessary transactions to be exchanged with other institutions or external networks.

Monteiro stated, "It will not only differ by country but also by financial institution, as different methods will be applied depending on each institution's situation."

He also introduced actual cases of blockchain adoption by financial institutions. In Brazil, a private network involving about 30 banks has been operating for nearly two years, and the payment processing volume of participating institutions exceeds $3 trillion. In this network, the tokenization of receivables and the use of digital currencies for interbank payments are being carried out.

Monteiro believes that the transition of financial institutions to on-chain operations cannot be rapidly advanced through technology adoption alone. Due to the need for regulatory reviews, internal approvals, and proof of concept (PoC), significant time is required from discussions with financial institutions to actual implementation.

He pointed out, "The sales cycle with financial institutions is quite long, around 12 to 18 months," and emphasized that numerous meetings and training are necessary during that process.

In the asset tokenization market, securing liquidity is identified as the most important task. He explained that it is more crucial to secure investors and funds to actually trade the tokenized assets than the technical difficulty of putting assets on the blockchain.

Monteiro stated, "Liquidity is definitely key," and added, "Tokenizing an asset itself is not that complicated, but just because it is tokenized does not mean liquidity will immediately arise."

He particularly emphasized the importance of selecting assets that already have sufficient trading demand in the existing financial market. He noted that tokenizing assets without demand does not naturally create a new market.

He said, "We need to properly select assets that already have liquidity in the existing financial market," warning that otherwise, even after tokenization, they may not attract interest and nothing may happen.

He assessed that interest in tokenization and payments among financial institutions in Korea is also growing. Monteiro mentioned that he has visited Korea four times this year and has been discussing related matters with domestic financial institutions since March.

He stated, "Korea is a leading market in terms of retail," and added, "Financial institutions are looking at how to promote tokenization of payments and various assets."

He continued, "Currently, we are in the exploratory stage, but I believe we can collaborate with various Korean financial institutions," suggesting that specific cooperation cases may emerge in the future.

He also projected that international payments using stablecoins will be a major application area for on-chain finance among institutions. In particular, he explained that in corporate trade, it can reduce the time and costs incurred in the process of going through existing international remittance networks.

Monteiro mentioned his past experience in commodity trade, stating, "Processing transactions over $2 million using SWIFT took a considerable amount of time."

He added, "In the near future, I believe these transactions will be conducted on private blockchains using stablecoins," and predicted, "The trend of traditional financial institutions combining with digital finance will not take long."

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