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The Assetizer · 18 December 2025

From Uranium to Ethereum: Recapping Season 1 of The Assetizer

As The Assetizer wraps its first year, here's what we covered, and where to start if you missed it.

From Uranium to Ethereum: Recapping Season 1 of The Assetizer

This newsletter is part of The Assetizer, GenTwo's thought leadership platform.

With 31 articles, 25 podcasts, 5,700 subscribers and around 2,000 readers every week across Substack and LinkedIn, it was a satisfying first year here at The Assetizer. And as Season 1 comes to a close, I thought it a good moment to look back — and to say thank you.  

When we launched in February, we set out to document a transformation we believe is underway in finance: the expansion of the investment universe and the democratization of how financial products are created. We organized our coverage around three editorial tracks, each with its own hypothesis about where things are heading.

Here's how the journey went.

 

Asset Evolution

The hypothesis: Previously inaccessible or non-bankable assets contain untapped value that can be unlocked through innovative financial products.

This track brought us to some unexpected places. We spoke with insiders who are securitizing fine art, fine wine, carbon credits, and even the future earnings of professional athletes. We also connected with Professor Kean Birch from York University, who co-edited the foundational academic text on assetization. His framework — categorizing assetization into knowledge assets (patents, IP), nature assets (oil wells, natural capital), infrastructure assets (railways, wind farms), and social assets (student loans, impact bonds) — gave us a useful lens for understanding just how broad this phenomenon is. His current research on data as an emerging asset class points to where things might be heading next.

Here are some of the highlights:

Innovation Lab

The hypothesis: Technology and standardized tools — specifically Actively Managed Certificates — are the keys to accelerating the democratization of financial product creation.

This track took us under the hood. We explored the history of AMCs in Switzerland and how they evolved from niche instruments into versatile containers for almost any asset class. We spoke with practitioners building the infrastructure that makes all of this possible — from digital asset custody to core banking systems rebuilt from the ground up to handle crypto. We also launched the AMC Creator this year, and used this track to examine what that kind of tool means for the industry: when product creation becomes fast and accessible, the competitive advantage shifts from infrastructure to ideas.

If you missed it, start here:

Future of Finance

The hypothesis: Shifting investor demands for customization and diversification, combined with the rise of digital assets, are driving the biggest opportunities in the industry.

This track is where we stepped back to look at the bigger picture. We explored the convergence of traditional finance and DeFi — and found that the story isn't quite what you might expect. Rather than institutions migrating to crypto rails, we documented how crypto projects are increasingly being packaged into traditional wrappers to access the $128 trillion TradFi liquidity pool. We traced the rise of stablecoins as infrastructure (not speculation), examined the "three waves" of assetization, and made the case for user-generated finance. We also had the privilege of speaking with Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, and Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink and former BlackRock digital assets executive, about where institutional crypto adoption is actually heading.

For more, check out:

Validation

One highlight of the year was the launch of the Forbes Assetization Leaders List in November, in partnership with Forbes Switzerland. Out of more than 200 applications, we identified 30 individuals and organizations driving this transformation — from firms fractionalizing collectibles to companies structuring museum-quality art portfolios to infrastructure builders enabling new distribution models.

The list confirmed something we suspected: assetization isn't just a narrative we're pushing. It's a movement with real practitioners doing real work across a surprisingly wide range of sectors. You can see the full list on the Forbes website.

What's Next

The Assetizer will be taking a short hiatus over the holidays. Season 2 begins on January 15, 2026.

In the meantime, if you want to go deeper on the ideas we've been exploring, the second edition of our book Assetization is coming from Wiley in 2026. It expands significantly on the first edition with new data, new case studies, and a more developed framework for understanding the three waves of assetization: access, creation, and automation.

Thanks for reading, listening, and being part of this first year. We'll see you in January!

Tom Lyons