Taking the pulse of digital assets 
in financial services across EMEA

Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA
Table of contents
Foreword by Axel Wieandt
Introduction
Executive Summary
Section One: How do EMEA financial institutions view digital assets?
Section Two: Where will cryptocurrencies fit in the payments ecosystem?
Section Three: Is tokenisation nearing a tipping point?
Section Four: What role will regulation play in the digital assets space?
Section Five: DeFi predictions: how decentralised can finance get?
Conclusion from David Dalton
Our Digital Asset Services
Authors and Contacts
01
03
05
08
14
18
22
27
29
31
33

01
Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA
Foreword
As any good medical professional knows, the 
first step to assessing the health of a patient 
starts with taking the pulse. The same is true 
in business: when we wish to understand the 
current state of a market, we look for its vital 
signs. For this report, Deloitte has gathered 
insights from a cross-section of leading global 
financial organisations across EMEA, which 
provide a valuable perspective on the health of 
the digital assets market today. 
Why now? Current market conditions make 
this an interesting moment for digital assets: in 
January this year, the value of all cryptocurrencies 
surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. 
On the demand side, interest in cryptocurrencies 
from investors, initially from crypto enthusiasts, 
but increasingly also from retail clients – primarily 
millennials, high net worth individuals, family 
offices and institutions – keeps growing. This 
rise in demand is occurring despite significant 
volatility and significant technological and 
legal risks. These investors require new crypto 
exchange, trading and custody services that 
most banks and asset managers currently are 
not offering. Out of the 25 financial services 
organisations which Deloitte spoke with, almost 
half report appetite from customers for digital 
payment using cryptocurrencies. I would suspect 
that those that are heavily exposed to changes 
in the securities value chain will be investing in 
digital asset services; they see the opportunity 
but clearly also the threat. 
There is also another factor. When Covid-19 first 
hit in early 2020, there was widespread concern 
that banks would be affected as they were in the 
Axel Wieandt
Adjunct professor of finance at 
Kellogg School of Management, 
Northwestern University

Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA | Foreword
02
2008 financial crisis. However, that scenario did 
not materialise. The economy is recovering, and 
many banks are showing stronger than expected 
earnings. This gives them the means and the 
opportunity to invest in digital assets. 
Clearly, it will be a battle between established 
players and start-ups for leadership in digital 
assets, but allow me to make a bold prediction:  
I believe that the early adopters of blockchain 
have an opportunity to leapfrog the fintech 
players and make up the ground that 
traditional banks lost to fintechs over the past 
decade. I say this because, in my opinion, the 
biggest development in digital assets is not 
cryptocurrency but the underlying blockchain/
DLT technology. 
To be clear, I am not saying this will happen in the 
short term. Blockchain is a complex foundational 
technology and for it to transform financial 
services it requires the adoption and agreement 
on standards by many market participants. 
Many important questions of privacy, scalability, 
cybersecurity, data and consumer protection, will 
need to be addressed. This survey shows that 
market participants are building digital asset/DLT/
blockchain teams in-house and are beginning to 
establish digital asset services units; some are 
even building their own DLT or blockchain. We 
can expect to see investments in digital asset 
strategies increase in the next two to three years. 
Time matters: as the adoption of TCP/IP, which 
laid the groundwork for the development of the 
internet shows, it can take more than 30 years 
until a foundational technology can reshape 
the economy. Digital assets and the underlying 
blockchain technology, no doubt, have the 
potential to transform EMEA financial services. 
The critical question is when. That is why it is so 
important to start taking the pulse of digital  
asset activity now.

03
Introduction
This report was spurred by the enormous and 
growing interest in digital assets, and their 
increasing move towards the mainstream over 
the past year. To date, cryptocurrencies have had 
the highest profile in this space, but the digital 
asset category is in fact much broader. 
Our Deloitte Global Blockchain Survey 2021 
clearly showed the market is preparing for a wave 
of disruption across the digital asset space. For 
this report, we sought insights from 25 leading 
financial services organisations with operations in 
EMEA, aiming to gauge industry attitudes toward 
cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, central bank digital 
currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised securities. Our 
respondents span a cross-section of established 
banks and wealth management firms, to 
consultancies and crypto startups.
In our engagement with the market, we asked 
several questions with the intention of gaining a 
realistic perspective on financial services firms’ 
current adoption of digital assets; whether they 
are committing significant investment to it or 
at an experimentation stage, and to identify 
potential barriers to mainstream adoption. Will 
digital assets replace or be an alternative to fiat 
currency? Could the blockchain infrastructure 
underpinning it become a key part of banks and 
financial providers’ platforms?
This report breaks down the key findings into five 
sections, covering cryptocurrencies, payments, 
tokenisation, regulations, and decentralised 
finance (DeFi). For those still becoming familiar 
with the space, we include brief definitions of 
each category, together with a breakdown of

Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA | Introduction
04
key research findings relating to each one. As 
our engagement shows, some financial services 
providers clearly see an advantage in moving 
early, but the race is by no means run. Many are 
still watching developments, or awaiting more 
regulatory clarity, before committing investment. 
For this audience, we close each section with 
a series of practical questions that financial 
providers should consider as they start to map 
their digital asset strategies. 
Methodology
Deloitte engaged with 25 leading financial 
services industry organisations across 
EMEA between May and July 2021. An 
industry survey was conducted along with 
one-to-one interviews with leading 
organisations to gain insights and 
perspectives on the digital asset landscape 
and to understand strategic positioning of 
these large organisations. Our 
respondents were a mix of global banks, 
digital asset platforms, fintechs and crypto 
custody solution providers located in the 
UK, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, 
France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and 
Ireland. The respondents were primarily 
C-suite or upper management along with 
innovation leads, public policy 
representatives and owner/partners. 
A note on definitions
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset or 
crypto asset created as a digital medium 
of exchange. Coin ownership records 
are stored in a secure digital ledger, or 
blockchain, to protect transaction records. 
There are three main subcategories of 
crypto assets: exchange tokens, security 
tokens and utility tokens. In the current 
digital approach, cryptocurrencies are 
a means of payment that enables swift 
and straightforward transactions, wiring 
funds via bank accounts and crypto money 
without the use of fiat money.

05
Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA 
Executive summary
Our research highlighted that 
executives in leading financial 
services firms operating in EMEA 
have a very good understanding 
of the digital assets space: 
cryptocurrencies, crypto payments, 
crypto custody and the potential 
of tokenisation and its impact on 
industry over the longer term. 
Indeed, much of this awareness is 
being driven by demand from their 
customers. High net worth (HNW) 
customers are seen as the biggest 
group seeking services in the digital 
asset space. While many have put 
an accountable senior executive 
in place to lead their digital asset 
strategy, few have plans to offer 
services relating to digital assets yet 
with many adopting a fast follower 
or wait and see approach. The 
industry continues to see regulatory 
uncertainty around digital assets as 
a key barrier impacting digital asset 
adoption.

06
Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA | Executive summary
•	Digital assets are viewed as being 
a major disruptor to how financial 
services firms operate in the near 
term
•	Digital assets are already viewed 
by many as a distinct asset class
•	The majority of respondents 
do not see crypto replacing fiat 
currencies but would welcome a 
more stable ‘digital euro’ form of 
digital currency
•	Approximately half of the 
organisations we engaged with 
have a dedicated senior executive 
accountable for digital assets
Digital assets 
Digital payments  
and cryptocurrencies
Tokenisation
Regulation 
•	Respondents see strong 
demand from their customers 
for some form of mechanism 
to support crypto payment
•	Most have no immediate 
plans to provide services in 
this space yet
•	Partnering with third parties 
was seen as the best option 
to provide digital payments 
or cryptocurrency services 
as opposed to building the 
infrastructure internally
•	Most see tokenisation of 
financial securities (i.e. debt, 
real estate or illiquid assets) 
as the fastest growing area in 
tokenisation
•	More than half the 
respondent group report that 
clients have approached them 
to help issue digital securities
•	Tokenisation of securities was 
seen as a material long-term 
opportunity
•	A small number plan to offer 
tokenisation services in the 
next year 
•	Our respondents view the 
lack of regulation in Europe 
is a significant barrier to 
widespread adoption of digital 
assets in investment products
•	Regulated financial services 
firms are currently challenged 
with providing digital asset 
services as these services 
are not part of the licencing 
requirements
•	The majority of respondents 
see uniform global regulation 
of digital assets as a key 
enabler of digital asset 
adoption

07
How do EMEA 
financial institutions 
view digital assets?
01.

08
Latest developments 
Digital assets is a broad category, and 
cryptocurrencies remain at the vanguard, 
having hit a milestone in April 2021, reaching a 
combined valuation of more than $2 trillion. This 
is helping to push digital assets from the fringes 
of financial services to the mainstream. The term 
‘digital assets’ can mean something represented 
in digital form that has intrinsic or acquired 
value. As well as cryptocurrencies, the category 
includes utility tokens, exchange tokens and 
security tokens, together with new models for the 
security value chain from issuance to custody and 
settlement.
01. How do EMEA financial 
institutions view digital assets?
While ESG concerns such as the carbon footprint 
of cryptocurrencies along with the unregulated 
nature of this space is causing some hesitation 
from institutional customers, high-profile 
investors are nevertheless paying closer attention 
to the digital asset space. Some of the world’s 
largest banks and payment institutions including 
Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, BNY Mellon and 
Mastercard are actively working in this area, and 
many other banks and large financial services 
companies are also considering their options.

09
Digital asset growth
Altcoins
Bitcoin
Stablecoins
Tokens
Digital Securities
Established 
financial 
services
New 
entrants
It is thought that digital securities will see 
the most growth over next 2-3 years
The biggest threat for digital assets market 
is believed to be two times more likely to 
come from new players or entrants
Are in favour of a 
Digital Euro, issued 
by the Eurosystem, 
complementing the 
cash offer
An even split 
between: 
- Early adopter
- Fast follower
- Wait and see
There was a clear belief that digital assets will 
result in major disruption to financial services 
operations in the near future
Between 50-75% of respondents are currently 
pursuing one or more of the below investments:
Have a digital assets/DLT/blockchain team
Appointed a senior executive accountable for 
digital asset strategy and offerings
Invested in DLT prototypes
Planning venture capital investment in digital 
asset servicing companies
Early 
adopter
Fast 
follower
Wait & see
New entrants are perceived as 
the bigger market threat
Major disruption
Digital euro
Disagree
Agree
Strongly 
Disagree
Strongly 
Agree
Investments are happening
Investments are happening
81%
Our survey provided some key insights on industry attitudes towards digital assets:
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 01. How do EMEA financial institutions view digital assets?

10
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 01. How do EMEA financial institutions view digital assets?
Key insights 
Interestingly, while the appetite for digital 
assets is strong among our group of 
respondents, the majority saw digital securities, 
tokenisation and stablecoins as the types to 
experience the fastest growth in the next two to 
three years over bitcoin or altcoins. Christopher 
May, co-CEO and co-Founder of Finoa agrees; 
“In terms of pure volume and growth, I think 
stablecoins will see the biggest growth, not 
because they will be an investable asset but 
because they will power the growth of the whole 
digital asset ecosystem.”
What we garnered from our engagement with 
the market was the general agreement that 
digital assets will have a role to play in the near 
to medium term. The majority of the participants 
we engaged with believe digital assets are already 
a distinct asset class from traditional financial 
assets and over half either agree or strongly 
agree that digital assets will result in major 
disruption to how financial services organisations 
operate in the near future. This sentiment signals 
that the financial services sector is starting 
to prepare or at least hold an awareness that 
digital assets will play a significant role in their 
operations in the near future but the true impact 
on what this disruption will be is yet to be seen.
But where will this disruption come from? Largely, 
respondents believed it would be new players 
or entrants that would hold the biggest threat. 
From a strategic stance, our respondents were 
almost evenly split on how they were positioning 
themselves; with one group of respondents 
considering themselves ‘early adopters’, another 
indicating they are a ‘fast follower’ and the final 
group adopting a ‘wait and see’ strategy. This 
divide highlights the current state of the market; 
some players are making bold bets while others 
are holding out to see where the market falls. 
However, with a majority in either the ‘early 
adopters’ or ‘fast followers’ categories, it is clear 
that momentum is starting to take shape and 
organisations are preparing their response to the 
anticipated disruption.
Clearly the digital asset space has 
gained traction and momentum and 
while the industry still seems divided 
on how they want to respond or how 
imminent they foresee the disruption; 
investments are being made.

11
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 01. How do EMEA financial institutions view digital assets?
Regardless, what was signalled was that 
investments are starting to be made in preparing 
for the disruption. Over half of the organisations 
we engaged with currently have a digital asset/
DLT/blockchain team with an accountable senior 
executive, and the majority placed this offering 
as part of their core organisation. The current 
focus does not seem to be on building their 
own distributed ledger or blockchain. Instead, 
respondents indicated they were involved 
in industry-wide consortia, had invested in 
developing DLT prototypes or were planning 
venture capital investment in digital asset 
servicing companies. 
In terms of medium-term investment in this 
space, again the responses we received were 
mixed. For every firm we spoke with saying they 
will commit €1-5 million on digital assets, another 
is not planning any investment at all in that 
timeframe. 
So what does this tell us? Clearly the digital asset 
space has gained traction and momentum and 
while the industry still seems divided on how they 
want to respond or how imminent they foresee 
the disruption; investments are being made. 
For organisations with European operations, 
the majority don’t view cryptocurrencies as the 
priority growth area, but the concept of digital 
representation of value in some form (stablecoin, 
CBDC, securities, tokenisation) is clearly on the 
cards.

12
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 01. How do EMEA financial institutions view digital assets?
Are you seeing significant uptake in digital 
assets by any of the below groups?
High Net Worth Individual
Retail Investors
Institutional Investors
Corporate Investors
31%
25%
27%
17%
Questions for boards and executive 
teams 
	•
What is your corporate customer 
demand for servicing digital assets? 
	•
How well do you understand the 
economics and the business case 
for providing crypto products and 
services?
	•
What types of platform will you need 
to launch crypto trading or crypto 
custody?
	•
How much integration will you need to 
provide crypto services?

13
Where will 
cryptocurrencies 
fit in the payments 
ecosystem?
02.

14
Latest developments 
As the global payment system becomes 
increasingly digitised, cryptocurrencies, 
stablecoins, and private initiatives like Facebook’s 
Diem are all jockeying for position. Many 
platforms are emerging to facilitate near-instant 
digital payments, while some large retailers and 
well-known brands now accept payment using 
digital assets. Initial coin offerings, or token 
sales, can create a payment instrument so that 
it’s possible to pay for goods or services using a 
digital ledger. 
02. Where will cryptocurrencies 
fit in the payments ecosystem?
81 countries (representing over 90 percent of 
global GDP) are now exploring the introduction of 
their own digital currencies (CBDCs). Alternative 
digital currencies like these, and stablecoins, 
have their value pegged to other assets that 
are less prone to high fluctuations. This may 
act as a counterbalance to the volatility in the 
cryptocurrency market which has led many 
regulators worldwide to issue warnings for, or 
even ban, some digital currencies.

15
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 02. Where will cryptocurrencies fit in the payments ecosystem?
Key insights 
The question of payments was interesting, 
with our findings suggesting a skew in favour 
of stronger demand that much of the market 
is not preparing to supply. While just over half 
of our respondents recognised that there 
was an appetite from clients for some form of 
cryptocurrency to facilitate digital payment, most 
had no plans to provide crypto-payment services. 
Of those planning to offer or already doing so, 
our sample group was twice as likely to rely on 
third-party providers than to build their own 
payment services infrastructure, while a smaller 
amount is pursuing both options. 
A similar pattern emerged around crypto custody 
services; based on our engagement with the 
market, there is more appetite from clients than 
there are firms prepared to offer services.
A majority of our respondents did not believe 
cryptocurrencies would replace fiat currency, 
but instead favoured a more conservative and 
less volatile digital currency in the form of a 
Eurosystem issued ‘digital euro’. 
Do you see an appetite from your clients 
for use of some form of cryptocurrency 
payments?
Yes
No
I don’t know
Does your organisation plan to provide 
crypto payment services?
Yes
No
We already offer 
crypto payment 
services
5%
29%
67%
43%
33%
24%

16
Questions for boards and executive 
teams 
	•
How do crypto payments fit into your 
payments strategy?
	•
Have you evaluated different types of 
crypto payments for the most suitable 
fit with your business, and alignment 
to your customers’ needs?
Axel Wieandt believes this is because “crypto is 
not about new money, but about blockchain”. 
His belief is that the industry is now beginning to 
focus on the underlying blockchain technology 
and is seeing more value in the protocols, 
processing efficiencies and transaction costs 
instead of speculating with crypto currencies and 
creating more money. 
This more cautious perspective in EMEA 
contrasts with the Deloitte Global Blockchain 
Survey, which found that 76% of respondents 
believe digital assets will serve as a strong 
alternative or replacement for fiat currencies in 
the next 5-10 years.
 
Most respondents favoured a more 
conservative and less volatile digital 
currency.
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 02. Where will cryptocurrencies fit in the payments ecosystem?

17
Is tokenisation nearing a 
tipping point?
03.

18
Latest developments 
In addition to cryptocurrencies 
and stablecoins, security tokens are also 
gradually taking hold. Tokenisation is still at an 
experimental stage but if a critical number of 
infrastructure providers make the move, there is 
real potential growth in this space. 
Tokens are digital equivalents of real-world tradeable 
assets. In financial services, that might be an equity, 
a government bond, or ownership of property. It is 
likely we will see other financial assets tokenised like 
debt, equity and other financial instruments. 
Tokenisation allows for direct ownership and 
removes barriers to trading. The potential 
elimination of brokers, clearinghouses and other 
middlemen would remove commissions and 
03. Is tokenisation nearing a 
tipping point?
other charges, thereby reducing transaction costs. 
Because the tokens are recorded and held on 
a blockchain, the value is transferred almost 
instantaneously, making them easier, faster, cheaper 
and more accessible to buy, sell, or exchange. 
Instant settlement will free up liquidity and 
eliminate the need for back-office reconciliation. 
Recently, much of the public attention has focused 
on NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, for works of 
art, pieces of writing, or even lines of code, often 
changing hands at auction for large sums of 
money. In the financial world, tokenisation has 
the potential to make a significant impact on 
the underlying capital market infrastructure; 
for example, an aviation leasing company could 
tokenise an aircraft, allowing investment in a 
fraction of the entire asset.

19
of more than three years from now. There is 
clear indication that tokenisation of assets is a 
discussion point at board level, but our research 
might indicate that few will follow through to 
pursuing projects over the coming year.  
Axel Wieandt remarks that it is “telling that a clear 
majority of the organisations Deloitte spoke with 
see tokenisation as a long-term opportunity. 
In terms of the penetration of this technology, 
I believe we are approaching a tipping point. It 
is critical to see what the exchanges will do, but 
clearly the financial institutions, informed by their 
clients and their own experiences, think that this 
technology has real merit and is here to stay. 
They are thinking about the resources they will 
need to have in house, where do they position 
themselves and how to add value. Their offering 
will have to be increasingly compatible with a 
tokenised environment.”
Key insights 
When we asked our survey group which 
types of digital assets are likely to experience the 
fastest growth in the next two to three years, 
digital securities and tokenisation were clearly 
out in front of cryptocurrencies. A majority 
expect digital securities to grow fastest, followed 
by tokenisation. More than half of our survey 
group say that clients have approached them to 
issue digital assets like tokens or to assist with 
tokenisation of real assets. A strong majority see 
tokenisation of securities or financial instruments 
as a significant potential long-term opportunity. 
As for launch timelines, our group was split 
evenly between those who expect to provide 
tokenisation-related services within the next  
12 months, those anticipating a one to two-year 
timeline, and others seeing launch on a horizon 
Tokenisation of assets is a discussion 
point at board level.
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 03. Is tokenisation nearing a tipping point?

20
Questions for boards and executive 
teams 
	•
Have you assessed the opportunities 
for applying tokenisation in your own 
business operating model? 
	•
Where does your digital asset strategy 
focus: are you a first mover or fast 
follower?
	•
Does the strategy include a roadmap 
with timelines and timeframes for 
adoption?
	•
Have you considered the technical 
challenges with tokenisation, such as 
allowing ways for different blockchain 
networks to connect to each other?
If yes, what timeline do you see for 
organisations offering services to 
tokenisation? 
Next 12 months
1-2 years
3+ years
31%
31%
38%
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 03. Is tokenisation nearing a tipping point?
Do you see the tokenisation of securities/
financial instruments as a significant  
long-term opportunity for your company?
Yes
No
I dont know
76%
10%
14%

21
What role will regulation 
play in the digital asset 
space?
04.

22
Latest developments 
So far, developments in cryptocurrencies, 
stablecoins, and security tokens have largely 
taken place without the involvement of European 
banks and asset managers. However, as more 
digital assets start to appear, regulators and 
central banks are increasingly making their 
voices heard in the space. On 5 January 2021, the 
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) 
in the US approved the use of stablecoins for 
settlement of financial transactions by banks, 
which was seen as a boost for other payment 
platforms, as stablecoins are less volatile 
compared to traditional cryptocurrencies. 
04. What role will regulation play 
in the digital asset space?
Soon after, the European Central Bank 
proposed a regulation, Markets in Crypto-Assets 
(MiCA), as a measure to enable and support 
digital finance while mitigating the risks. The 
framework is intended to bring into scope other 
cryptocurrencies, security tokens and stablecoins 
which are not caught by existing regulation. 
At the same time, cryptocurrency’s 
unpredictability as an asset class, and its 
decentralised nature, have led many regulators 
worldwide to issue warnings for or even ban 
some cryptocurrencies. For example, in October 
2020, the FCA banned the sale of crypto 
derivatives to retail customers and exchange 
traded notes that referenced crypto assets given 
then complex nature of the investments.

23
Regulators’ presence in the digital asset 
market is the subject of debate: some argue 
over-regulation at an early stage of market 
development could hinder innovation. Conversely, 
if regulation is insufficient or unclear, institutions 
may not feel they can confidently adopt new 
digital asset service models. There is also 
significant divergence in legislative and regulatory 
frameworks around digital assets, although for 
now it appears customers can choose which 
jurisdiction they prefer. There is no definition of 
‘security token’ in EU regulation. Crypto-assets 
may qualify as ‘transferable securities’ or other 
types of ‘financial instruments’ under MiFID II. 
Other digital assets may fall under regulatory 
frameworks like AMLD 5 which regulates the 
AML requirements of the company rather than 
the specific digital assets. The widespread nature 
of existing regulation can be a barrier and also 
hinder existing regulated firms from launching 
crypto services.   
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 04. What role will regulation play in the digital asset space?

24
Key insights 
When we gathered the insights for this 
report, many executives either agreed or strongly 
agreed that uniform global regulatory response 
will be critical to digital assets becoming more 
mainstream. Interestingly, a clear majority of 
respondents believe the lack of regulatory 
requirements presents a high barrier to digital 
asset adoption. This was also reflected in the 
Deloitte Global Blockchain Survey in which 63% 
of respondents viewed regulatory barriers to be 
the biggest obstacle to the acceptance and use of 
digital assets globally.
While new regulatory measures are starting to be 
introduced, it appears that awareness of these 
changes are still split; with some of the people 
we spoke to being ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ familiar 
with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Asset (MiCA) but 
a sizeable number are not. This is not surprising 
given that feedback was only provided on MiCA 
in December 2020. It is expected that more detail 
will be provided by the European Commission 
once they have considered the feedback from the 
market and updated the proposed framework. 
By reducing the volatility and regulatory 
uncertainty that exists today, this could help 
digital assets to make a breakthrough in the 
European financial system this decade. As our 
responses gathered indicate, many market 
participants believe global regulatory clarity 
will be critical to digital assets becoming more 
mainstream.
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 04. What role will regulation play in the digital asset space?

25
Questions for boards and executive 
teams 
	•
Have you evaluated the regulatory 
approaches in different jurisdictions, 
and whether varying definitions could 
affect where your firm gets licensed 
for crypto trading?
	•
Do you need to start building 
relationships with regulators in your 
preferred jurisdiction?
	•
What is your risk appetite in this space 
and how will this affect your approach 
to working with regulators?
	•
How will your choice of jurisdiction 
affect the blockchain platforms you 
need to integrate with?
Uniform global regulatory response will 
be critical to digital assets becoming more 
mainstream.
Strongly agree
Agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Strongly disagree
9.5%
5%
48%
28%
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 04. What role will regulation play in the digital asset space?
9.5%

Taking the pulse of digital assets in financial services across EMEA | Foreword
26
DeFi predictions: how 
decentralised can 
finance get?
05.

27
Latest developments 
As the name suggests, decentralised 
finance, or DeFi, removes intermediaries from 
transactions. Although cryptocurrencies have 
been around for more than a decade, DeFi is still 
an emerging area. By using blockchains, which by 
their nature are distributed and shared, banking 
and lending agreements between two parties 
can happen without needing the involvement 
of financial intermediaries such as exchanges, 
brokers or banks. 
05. DeFi predictions: how 
decentralised can finance get?
Instead, transactions are conducted using 
smart contracts, sometimes peer-to-peer but 
increasingly through liquidity pools and automated 
market matching. DeFi’s supporters claim this 
makes financial transactions secure and more 
transparent than the private systems employed in 
centralised finance. DeFi is already proving highly 
dynamic, even as it is still at the experimentation 
phase. At the end of 2020, cryptocurrencies 
worth $19 billion had been invested in various 
decentralised financial applications. By the 
beginning of February 2021, that figure had more 
than doubled to more than $40 billion.

28
Key insights 
Although DeFi is still an emerging area, 
the financial providers we spoke with show a 
strong awareness of the concept. A significant 
number claim a good understanding of the 
concept, although not as many are actively 
making plans for it. This would appear to indicate 
that the timeframe for mass DeFi adoption across 
the EMEA financial system remains some way off. 
Puneet Singhvi, Managing Director, Digital Assets 
and Financial Markets Infrastructure head, Citi 
Markets, echoes this sentiment and believes 
firms need to continue business assessments of 
DeFi protocols. At the same time, with anything 
in finance, sensitivity around risk, regulations and 
consumer protection is critical.
Questions for boards and 
executive teams 
	•
Have you assigned a person 
in your organisation to 
maintain a watching brief 
in order to stay close to 
developments?
	•
Are you monitoring 
customer demand to see 
if the concept is starting to 
resonate with customers?
	•
What experiments or 
proofs of concept could 
you carry out in order to 
build capability internally 
so as DeFi matures, your 
organisation is ready and 
able to move quickly?
I have never heard of 
the concept of DeFi 
I am aware of the 
concept of DeFi
I have a good 
understanding of 
how DeFi works
Our organisation is 
actively exploring how 
DeFi will impact our 
business
9%
29%
29%
33%
Taking the pulse of digital assets | 05. DeFi predictions: how decentralised can finance get?
Are you aware of/do you understand the 
concept of DeFi (borrowing and lending 
digital assets)?

29
Conclusion
David Dalton
EMEA Blockchain Lead and
Head of Financial Services, 
Deloitte Ireland
As this report was being prepared, crypto’s 
market cap reached more than $2 trillion for the 
second time this year. It feels like a disruptive 
moment: that figure is too large a level of 
investment for digital assets to simply disappear. 
It may be more useful to think of digital assets 
as being at a similar stage of maturity to the 
internet two decades ago. By coincidence, the 
then-combined value of the top five dot-com era 
companies was also $2 trillion. (Cisco, Intel, Oracle 
and Microsoft are all still with us.) Amazon, one of 
that era’s big winners, had a market cap of close 
to $4 billion. Today, it is valued at $1.5 trillion. 
If the digital assets space follows a similar growth 
curve, it indicates the potential opportunity. 
Yet from taking the pulse of the EMEA market 
for this report, the conclusion is that there is 
no clear intent in the market to go after this 
space aggressively. Most players have adopted 
an approach of ‘fast followers’ or ‘wait and 
see’, even though awareness of digital assets, 
cryptocurrencies and tokenisation, and to some 
extent decentralised finance is very high.
Taking the pulse of digital assets

30
Taking the pulse of digital assets | Conclusion
To address a market that is fast becoming too 
big to ignore, financial services providers need 
to take some critical steps today:
1. Assign an executive who is 
accountable for digital assets.
2. Have a clearly agreed strategy at board 
level – even if that approach is to wait 
and see for now. 
3. Risk and compliance teams should 
actively monitor regulatory activity 
around digital assets. Then, banks 
need to start assessing the potential 
impact of crypto payments on their 
own payment strategies.
4. Your CIO team should start finding 
and adding skills in blockchain and 
digital assets to the enterprise 
architectural capability. Lacking those 
capabilities could be a significant 
barrier when the organisation wants 
to make a decisive move in this space. 
5. Many banks are focusing on innovation 
and on trying to build out a fintech 
ecosystem. When doing this, they 
need to consider digital asset players 
as part of that ecosystem thinking  
and design. 
The strong degree of waiting and seeing from 
our market engagement suggests EMEA financial 
services players are not yet fully confident that 
digital assets will be successful immediately. 
However, the rapid progress seen elsewhere 
suggests it is important to be best prepared, as 
it looks increasingly likely digital asset market 
adoption will be a question of when, not if.

31
Our Digital Asset Services
  Business case:  
Identification and collection of internal  
and external data to support estimates 
of revenues & costs. Analysis of outcome 
scenarios, constraints affecting execution  
of business plan.
  Roadmap:  
Tactical implementation plan with  
sequenced activities to enable solution;  
vendor assessment and development of 
solution architecture; governance and 
executive alignment.
Deloitte brings together a multi-disciplinary 
team with a broad set of capabilities and a 
deep understanding to realise value through 
blockchain and digital assets. Our services 
provide clients with end-to-end support on their 
digital asset journey:
  Strategy:  
Executive education, market research, and 
positioning of digital asset opportunities within 
broader firm strategy.
  Market entry:  
Identification of specific, addressable market 
needs and solutions, paths to market entry, 
and frameworks to support decisioning.
Taking the pulse of digital assets

32
  Ongoing tax & regulatory compliance:  
As tax structures shift, we are a trusted 
partner, ensuring ongoing compliance is 
maintained as new tax guidance emerges  
and matures.
  Risk assessment:  
Comprehensive assessment of business,  
cyber, financial risks and more, leveraging 
our deep understanding of traditional and 
emerging risks related to digital assets.
  Audit readiness:  
Provide insights to companies preparing for 
a financial statement audit on accounting 
policies, financial reporting procedures, and 
controls documentation.
  Implementation:  
Development services including systems 
integration, QA testing, and go-live readiness.
  Digital asset classification:  
Navigating through the rules and standards  
set forth to classify digital assets for tax 
purposes and ensuring proper the right 
considerations are thought through fully 
explored from the beginning.
  Tax optimisation and structuring:  
Optimising and structuring value capture 
systems across trading, custody, asset 
servicing, and funding to not only navigate tax 
uncertainties but also identify winning models.
  Accounting & advisory services:  
Adviseing companies on accounting for  
digital assets including analysing complex 
contracts, performing accounting research, 
developing accounting policies, and drafting 
relevant disclosures.
  Financial advisory & controls:  
Understanding of operations and reporting 
requirements across the entire digital assets 
lifecycle to help mitigate potential impacts 
including the application of COSO to blockchain 
(in collaboration with our Audit practice).
Taking the pulse of digital assets | Our Digital Asset Services

33
Taking the pulse of digital assets 
Authors
David Dalton
EMEA Blockchain Lead, 
Partner and Head of Financial Services,
Deloitte Ireland
ddalton@deloitte.ie
Lisa Simpson
EMEA Blockchain Lab Lead,
Director,
Deloitte Ireland
lisimpson@deloitte.ie
Axel Wieandt
Adjunct Professor of Finance at Kellogg 
School of Management, Northwestern 
University 
axel.wieandt@kellogg.northwestern.edu
Jack Lee 
EMEA Audit Blockchain & Digital Assets 
Lead, Director, 
Deloitte Ireland
jacklee@deloitte.ie
Authors 
Contributors

34
Contacts
David Dalton
EMEA Blockchain Lead, 
Partner and Head of Financial 
Services,
Deloitte Ireland
ddalton@deloitte.ie 
Kasper Peters
Financial Services Industry 
Leader
Deloitte Belgium
kapeters@deloitte.com
 
Patrick Laurent
Partner
Deloitte Luxembourg
palaurent@deloitte.lu
 
Laurent Collet
Partner
Deloitte Luxembourg
lacollet@deloitte.lu   
 
Cyrill Kiefer
Partner
Deloitte Switzerland
cykiefer@deloitte.ch   
 
Maria Augusta Francisco
Financial Services Industry 
Leader
Deloitte Portugal
mafrancisco@deloitte.pt
 
Ana Cristina Gamito
Partner
Deloitte Portugal
cgamito@deloitte.pt
Tyler Welmans
UK Blockchain and  
Digital Assets Lead
Deloitte UK
twelmans@deloitte.co.uk
Taking the pulse of digital assets

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