Recently it’s seemed like everyone is so busy arguing about Bitcoin prices that they’ve stopped paying attention to the seismic industry shifts happening behind the scenes. While headlines obsess over market drama, traditional banks are still running on computer systems older than most of their employees.

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The Legacy Problem

Sure—banking is banking, but if by the same logic, driving is driving—that’s like trying to run a modern Formula 1 race using cars from the 1970s. 43% of banking systems still run on COBOL—a programming language that debuted the same year Hawaii became a state, making the average programmer over 50 years old.

This means that traditional banks are facing a paralyzing dilemma. Their core systems require overnight batch processing just to handle basic transactions. Updating these systems isn't like downloading the latest iPhone update—it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take 2-3 years per project. Many banks continue operating systems over 40 years old because the risk and cost of replacement outweigh the perceived benefits of modernization.

Meanwhile, a quiet revolution is happening in the infrastructure space.

The Market Opportunity

Visa's recent $1.4 quadrillion bet on tokenization signals the scale of transformation ahead. The total addressable market spans multiple asset classes:

• Government bonds and debt: $277 trillion

• Real estate: $280.6 trillion

• Stock markets: $89.5 trillion

• Currency markets: $7 trillion

• Derivatives: $6,667.1 trillion

Today, stablecoins represent 97% of tokenized assets. The infrastructure gap is just beginning to be addressed.

The Institutional Response

Major players are making decisive moves. JPMorgan—yes, the same JPMorgan that lead the skepticism parade when it came to Bitcoin—has developed their digital payments platform called Kinexys, while simultaneously facilitating Bitcoin ETF trading. BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF emerged as a quickly growing offering. Singapore leads regulatory framework development with 40 organizations across 7 countries working to create standards for tokenization.

Infrastructure modernization is becoming unavoidable. Google Cloud launched their Dual Run service, built on Santander Bank's software, to help institutions move workloads to the cloud through parallel processing. This allows banks to upgrade without disrupting critical operations. It's like having a backup generator running while you rewire your house—you can upgrade without turning off the lights.

None of this happens overnight. Real infrastructure takes time. Just like the internet wasn't built in a day, the new financial infrastructure stack is being assembled gradually, often in ways that don't make headlines. The plumbing isn't sexy, but it's essential.

The Real Challenge

The obstacles aren't purely technical. Traditional banks must navigate complex regulatory requirements while maintaining substantial capital reserves—a CET1 capital ratio of 4.5%, plus a stress capital buffer of 2.5%, plus an additional 2.5% for the largest banks.

The infrastructure is outdated and the executives are behind in their thinking, which makes for the perfect storm.

The Scale of Change

Companies like Circle demonstrate the potential scale of this transformation. Their USDC stablecoin now circulates across 16 blockchain networks with total transaction volume reaching $20 trillion. This is infrastructure being used at scale.

The Path Forward

In my opinion, the winners in this space won't be those attempting to replace banks entirely. Success will come to those who bridge traditional and decentralized finance, solving specific pain points while helping institutions evolve.

We're witnessing the early stages of what might become the largest infrastructure upgrade in financial history. The transformation is methodical, often invisible to headlines, but fundamentally reshaping how finance works.