GSR’s Andy Baehr makes the case for tokenized fixed income as the collateral layer traditional finance actually needs

Tokenizing stocks sounds cool. Tokenizing bonds sounds boring. Guess which one is actually getting institutional adoption.

Andy Baehr, managing director of asset management at GSR, called the idea of mass equity tokenization “exciting” in a recent discussion. But the more interesting thread in his commentary points to where tokenization is already proving its value: fixed income instruments and their role as collateral in institutional trading.

The boring stuff is winning

HSBC’s Orion platform, which handles tokenized bond issuance, has crossed $3.5 billion in cumulative issuances. Goldman Sachs’ GS DAP platform has exceeded $700 million in tokenized fixed income instruments. These aren’t pilot programs or proof-of-concept demos. They’re live infrastructure processing real capital.

The reason bonds are leading the tokenization race over equities comes down to something decidedly unglamorous: valuation clarity. Bonds have well-defined cash flows, maturity dates, and credit ratings. That makes them easier to price, easier to custody on-chain, and critically, easier to accept as collateral.

Research published by DTCC on May 13, 2026 reinforced this point, finding that tokenized traditional assets can improve collateral mobility and reduce capital requirements.

Why collateral is the killer app

Tokenization compresses that process. A tokenized Treasury bond can be transferred between counterparties in minutes rather than days, enabling what the industry calls “collateral mobility.” Firms can post exactly what’s needed, when it’s needed, and redeploy freed-up capital into other positions.

The DTCC research specifically highlighted reduced capital requirements as one of the operational advantages, which is the kind of bottom-line improvement that gets CFOs to return phone calls.

GSR’s positioning in a converging market

Baehr joined GSR as managing director of asset management in February 2026, bringing experience from roles at CoinDesk Indices and digital asset strategies. His arrival coincided with GSR’s broader push into asset management, a notable shift for a firm historically known as a crypto market maker and trading firm.

That push materialized in April 2026 when GSR launched BESO, its first actively managed multi-asset crypto ETF. The fund holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, positioning it as a diversified entry point for institutional allocators who want crypto exposure without picking individual tokens.

The institutional infrastructure being built by HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and DTCC creates the plumbing that asset managers will eventually use to construct hybrid portfolios spanning both digital-native and tokenized traditional assets.