Digital Wallets Take Center Stage: EY Foresees Wallet Ownership as Key to Future Financial Relationships (WALLET-OWNERSHIP SHIFT)

Big Four consultancy EY warns firms must position themselves as wallet providers to secure future client relationships in the tokenized financial era. According to Mark Nichols and Rebecca Carvatt, wallets will be the access point for payments, tokenized assets, and stablecoins, serving consumers, corporates, and institutional investors. EY envisions wallets as the new bank account, integrating with treasury, risk, and compliance systems to enable real-time capital flows and atomic settlements. Tokenization and on-chain infrastructure offer margin optimization, better risk alignment, and programmable transaction chains, shifting focus from liquidity to utility. The firm, with over 12 years of digital asset experience, offers custody, audit, compliance, and tax services across exchanges, banks, and asset managers. Wallet provisioning becomes strategic, with self-custody unlikely to dominate as trusted providers cater to different segments. Regulatory frameworks in the U.S. and globally support innovation, with EY seeing a move from experimentation to safe, scalable implementation. Tokenization is streamlining asset management by automating distribution, compliance, and reporting, expanding access to private credit and alternatives. Firms that ignore the wallet shift risk obsolescence; those that embrace it will own the infrastructure and relationships at the center of on-chain finance.