Top Technology Trends in Digital Assets and Blockchain for Financial Services CIOs

Banks are in a new phase of competition where money moves 24/7, settlement is programmable, and products for payments and liquidity is increasingly shaped by fintech competitors. Gartner®* Top Technology Trends in Digital Assets and Blockchain for Financial Services CIOs lays out the technology trends underpinning this new competitive landscape and how they can inform strategy decisions for financial services leaders. 

“This shift toward on-chain finance is redefining market dynamics. Financial services institutions that do not integrate with this new infrastructure risk falling behind and experiencing higher client churns.”
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- Gartner

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• Digital assets are rapidly transitioning from experiments to production-ready use cases. Gartner frames how blockchain-enabled infrastructure is evolving from digital asset experiments into production-grade rails supporting real transaction volume — and what that means for company priorities (security, controls, integration, vendor lock-in, resilience, and architecture).
• Supporting programmable money from bank architecture and controls has specific, unique requirements. This report explores what it takes to support always-on, programmable settlement without weakening governance. It highlights how banks can apply policy and risk controls consistently across rails — from limits and entitlements to compliance checks, auditability, and clean integration with existing systems.
• Tokenization and fractionalization of digital assets enable new engagement models. Tokenization doesn’t just change how assets are represented — it changes how they’re distributed, accessed, and used. Gartner connects tokenization and fractionalization to new engagement models that can expand participation, reshape product design, and change the economics of acquisition and retention.

For leaders building their digital-asset roadmap, this report is a useful lens on where the market is heading, what capabilities are table stakes, and how to manage priorities.

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_{*Gartner, Top Technology Trends in Digital Assets and Blockchain for Financial Services CIOs, 16 February 2026, Christophe Uzureau, David Furlonger. Gartner is a trademark of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.}