{
  "id": 713681,
  "title": "[Interview] Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Solutions | Digital Assets Are Becoming the Invisible Rails of Banking",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/interview-julian-sawyer-ceo-of-zodia-solutions-digital-assets-are",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-13T00:28:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Korea IT Times",
    "slug": "korea-it-times",
    "url": "https://www.koreaittimes.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=156047"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Digital assets are rapidly moving from distinct asset class to integral part of mainstream financial infrastructure. Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Solutions, explains that major financial institutions are moving from pilot programs to production environments for tokenization, stablecoins and digital asset services. The focus now is on integrating these capabilities into existing systems while maintaining institutional control and regulatory compliance.\n\nMany banks face significant technological and operational challenges when integrating digital assets into their infrastructure. Most digital asset technology is built by crypto-native vendors, lacking proper governance, audit trails and segregation of duties. Banks must deploy bank-grade infrastructure from trusted partners to maintain control over private keys and custody, while meeting regulatory standards.\n\nThe success of financial platforms adopting tokenized assets hinges on infrastructure that mirrors traditional financial controls, such as segregation of duties and proper audit trails. Platforms built with these risk frameworks in mind, with regulatory authorizations across multiple jurisdictions, are more likely to succeed with institutional mandates.\n\nFinancial institutions are shifting from outsourcing to building digital asset infrastructure within their own controlled environments. Technology providers must act as design partners, bringing operational experience from traditional finance to help institutions design operating models and deploy infrastructure. This shift requires providers to understand both digital asset technology and the specific needs of traditional finance institutions.\n\nDigital assets are evolving toward becoming an embedded part of core banking infrastructure, similar to existing payment networks. The industry needs to move beyond thinking of key management as a standalone solution and instead focus on operating models that connect custody, settlement, staking, and tokenization through a single platform. Regulatory compliance, data sovereignty requirements, and local constraints present significant challenges, especially in emerging markets.",
  "summary": "Digital assets are moving beyond their origins as a distinct asset class and becoming part of the infrastructure through which financial institutions manage custody, settlement, tokenisation and cross-border transactions. As banks shift from limited pilot programmes to production environments, the f",
  "key_points": [
    "Digital assets becoming integral to mainstream banking infrastructure",
    "Banks face challenges integrating digital assets with existing systems",
    "Financial institutions building controlled digital asset infrastructure"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The shift of digital assets into mainstream financial infrastructure means banks must adapt their controls and compliance to treat them like traditional assets, not a separate class, to succeed with institutional mandates.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}