TradFi gets serious about DeFi

In 2025, many major financial institutions either shipped on-chain products that can be used in DeFi, or publicly laid out plans to do so. In this post, we’re looking at major TradFi institutions that either adopted DeFi last year or announced plans to do so.

Visa: payments meets on-chain lending 

Visa’s message in 2025 was straightforward: it wants to help institutions provide liquidity to on-chain lending markets. The card payment giant framed this as “on-chain finance,” basically referring to DeFi-style infrastructure.

If Visa’s foray into the DeFi terrain is successful, it will help standardize how banks and fintechs connect to on-chain lending. One possible outcome: DeFi yield stops being niche and starts to look like a product wrapper TradFi can actually ship.

Société Générale-FORGE: regulated stablecoins

Last year, Société Générale’s crypto arm SG-FORGE expanded efforts around regulated stablecoins with an explicit “bring stablecoins into DeFi” angle via a deeper partnership with Bitpanda.

1inch was involved in this project, facilitating liquidity for SG-FORGE’s stablecoins in collaboration with Flowdesk.

Why it matters: stablecoins are the “cash leg” of DeFi. When a major regulated bank issues and distributes stablecoins with DeFi in mind, it lowers friction for institutions that need clearer issuer, custody, and compliance boundaries.

BlackRock: tokenized funds go DeFi-native

BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund ecosystem kept expanding in 2025, starting direct DeFi integration.

In May 2025, BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury product (via Securitize) launched its “first direct DeFi protocol integration” with Euler on Avalanche. Meanwhile, BlackRock and BNY Mellon were reportedly working on tokenized “digital share classes” for BlackRock’s Treasury Trust money market fund. 

Why it matters: tokenized Treasuries are a core “TradFi yield” building block. Once those tokens can be used directly in DeFi venues, institutions get a familiar asset with programmable settlement and composable use-cases.

Fidelity: prepares to launch an on-chain Treasury fund

Last year, asset manager Fidelity Investments filed to register a blockchain-based, tokenized version of a U.S. dollar money market fund, using Ethereum and mentioning the possibility of expanding to other chains.

Why it matters: Fidelity is one of the most recognizable asset-management brands in the world. A tokenized money-market product is not “DeFi” by itself, but can be used in DeFi as collateral or in on-chain yield strategies.

Amundi: tokenizing a money-market fund on Ethereum

In November 2025, Europe’s largest asset manager Amundi issued its first tokenized share class of a money-market fund on Ethereum, using a hybrid distribution model and working with CACEIS on infrastructure and 24/7 digital ordering.

Why it matters: this is the same pattern as above — mainstream funds turned into on-chain instruments. Once the asset is a token, it can be moved, settled, and potentially used across on-chain venues, depending on regulatory approval and platform controls, far more efficiently than traditional fund plumbing allows.

DBS + Franklin Templeton + Ripple: tokenized fund lending and trading

In September, DBS, Franklin Templeton and Ripple revealed plans to offer trading and lending solutions using tokenized money-market funds on the XRP Ledger.

Why it matters: this is “TradFi yield” becoming modular. A tokenized money-market fund is a familiar asset. Pair it with on-chain lending/trading rails and you start to get DeFi-like functionality wrapped in names institutions already recognize.

HSBC, BNP Paribas: joining tokenization-focused Canton Foundation

In September 2025, HSBC and BNP Paribas joined the Canton Foundation, positioning it as part of a broader institutional tokenization push. By doing that, they followed the likes of Goldman Sachs in TradFi institutions’ push to bring blockchain-based utility to clients.

Why it matters (and the honest caveat): Canton is not “DeFi” in the retail, permissionless sense. But it’s directly aimed at institutional on-chain markets — and that’s often the first step before institutions get comfortable interacting with public-chain DeFi liquidity.

What this adds up to

2025 wasn’t about TradFi suddenly becoming crypto-native. It was about TradFi institutions launching or preparing “DeFi-ready” building blocks:

• tokenized cash-like funds
• regulated stablecoins distributed with DeFi usage in mind
• direct integrations between institutional RWAs and DeFi protocols
• public plans to connect institutional liquidity to on-chain lending rails.

That’s the playbook. Start with familiar assets. Put them on-chain. Then connect them to DeFi liquidity and execution - and rip the benefits of DeFi.

But keep in mind that regulatory clarity, risk management and governance remain gating factors despite technical readiness.

Stay tuned for more insights from 1inch!