Platonic is a company that is building the next generation of financial markets infrastructure. And the company’s vision is to empower global financial institutions to participate in digitized common market infrastructure on a decentralized platform. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Platonic founder and CEO Violet Abtahi to learn more about the company.
Violet Abtahi’s Background
What is Violet Abtahi’s background? Abtahi said:
“My background is rooted in innovation and entrepreneurship. I’m driven by a vision to create more inclusive and abundant global ecosystems. Entering the blockchain space was a natural progression in my career as I recognized its potential to overcome the limitations of traditional financial systems. Blockchain paves the way for borderless finance, aligning with my passion for creating opportunities for individuals and institutions on a global scale.”
“The founding of Platonic emerged from my desire to address key challenges such as data privacy, scalability, and trust while shaping a future where capital flows freely and securely across borders. This vision excites us because it promises a more inclusive, efficient, and borderless global economy.”
Formation Of Platonic
How did the idea for the company come together? Abtahi shared:
“After launching other blockchain technology, I saw firsthand the difficulty financial institutions had in adopting blockchain technology. For digital assets to reach their full potential, it’s crucial that existing financial markets can easily adopt and access the benefits of blockchain technology.”
“We identified the gap between public and private blockchain ecosystems and the need for enterprises to adopt a secure, scalable, and compliant approach to blockchain technology. Financial institutions faced significant challenges with data privacy and system fragmentation, and we saw the opportunity to develop infrastructure that could seamlessly integrate tokenized assets with both legacy and digital financial systems.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Abtahi and the team faced in building the company? Abtahi acknowledged:
“Innovation is driven by addressing challenges directly. Platonic stemmed directly from the challenges I witnessed financial institutions face in adopting blockchain technology. The regulatory environment has been a major challenge for blockchain and tokenization, particularly around data privacy and compliance. We’ve overcome these challenges by ensuring that our platform is privacy-first while also maintaining compliance with global regulatory standards.”
“Another challenge has been the lack of capital on-chain. However, by creating secure and compliant highways for real-world assets to flow on-chain, we’ve attracted forward-thinking institutions that see the long-term value of tokenization. The collapse of FTX in late 2022 also triggered a downturn in venture capital, breaking trust in centralized collateral systems. At Platonic, with our support for decentralized tokenized collateral, we have automated counterparty risk management, preventing similar crises from occurring in the future.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Abtahi assessed:
“The total addressable market for tokenized assets is vast, often quoted in the trillions, with $200 trillion for real estate, $70 trillion in private equity, and $500 trillion in derivatives. While these numbers are enticing, we prefer a more conservative view that looks at the potential savings from eliminating reconciliation costs by moving towards shared ledgers and smart contracts.”
“According to Broadridge, reconciliation activities account for 30-40% of firms’ back-office labor costs, most of which cannot be passed on to customers. We measure our success by how efficiently customers can tokenize assets, achieve instantaneous delivery, and eliminate reconciliation costs across an asset’s lifecycle.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Abtahi affirmed:
“Platonic stands out for its innovative, enterprise-grade platform that addresses data privacy, scalability, and compliance. We bridge public and private blockchains, enabling institutions to integrate securely without losing control of their data. In comparison with other tokenization platforms, our fully decentralized system eliminates the need for third-party validation, offering transaction-level privacy that allows brokers, banks, and asset managers to choose which assets and customer data to share.”
“With our Layer 1 blockchain, AI-linked smart contracts, and real-time settlement, we are uniquely positioned to serve both traditional institutions and emerging digital asset players. Our focus on real-world asset tokenization and building compliant capital flow pathways sets us apart from competitors.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Abtahi pointed out:
“Ultimately, we aspire to be the connective tissue that links financial institutions, helping them realize a fully on-chain future. Our goal is to become the premier enterprise blockchain technology provider, supporting the future digital asset economy. We aim to empower financial institutions to run their own networks and build the infrastructure that powers the next generation of autonomous, tokenized assets. We are also focused on expanding our platform globally, allowing real-world and digital assets to move freely and securely across both traditional and decentralized financial ecosystems.”
Significance Of New Decentralized Tokenization Platform
When asking Abtahi to explain the significance of Platonic’s new decentralized tokenization platform for the financial services industry, Abtahi replied:
“Our decentralized tokenization platform is a game-changer for the financial services industry, offering institutions the ability to tokenize real-world assets and manage them in a secure, compliant, and efficient manner.”
“Financial processes are often fragmented across multiple systems, with as many as a dozen firms handling various stages of a trade or asset lifecycle. Current solutions are offering centralized databases for tokenization, which do not fully consider privacy and security. Our platform breaks down these silos, providing a unified smart contract that represents the asset on-chain, improving efficiency and security. With our Layer 1 solution, financial institutions gain the benefits of automation, data sharing, and real-time settlement without sacrificing privacy, security, or regulatory compliance.”
Addressing Key Concerns Of Data Privacy
How does Platonic’s platform address the key concerns of data privacy and security in tokenization? Abtahi emphasized:
“Platonic has been built with a privacy-first approach, incorporating bank-grade encryption and transaction-level privacy to protect sensitive data at all times. Our platform leverages AI-linked smart contracts to automate transactions while ensuring that the necessary data remains secure and private. Additionally, our infrastructure adheres to global regulatory standards, providing financial institutions the confidence to adopt tokenization without worrying about privacy breaches or regulatory risks. With Platonic, transactions are processed with finality, without information leakage, and without relying on third-party validators.”
Integration With Legacy And Digital Infrastructures
Could you discuss how Platonic’s technology integrates with both legacy and digital financial infrastructures? Abtahi elaborated:
“Platonic’s technology is designed to seamlessly integrate with both legacy financial infrastructures and emerging digital systems. Our platform automates processes via AI-linked smart contracts, supporting traditional systems like Swift while enabling the tokenization of assets on public blockchains. This dual approach ensures that institutions can adopt blockchain technology without disrupting their existing operations, creating a more efficient and connected financial ecosystem.”
Details About Pilot Programs That Have Facilitated Billions In Transactions
Can you share more details about the pilot programs that have already facilitated hundreds of billions in transactions? Abtahi affirmed:
“Platonic’s predecessor company operated an enterprise blockchain in production with Vanguard for index data and collateral using this technology from 2019-2023. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund (~$1.7 trillion notional) was indexed and rebalanced using the technology during this time period. Collateralized FX hedges for the $100+ billion Vanguard Total International Bond Fund were also deployed in production parallel with State Street using this technology. Platonic has now acquired the technology, which has already been proven in the largest financial institutions, and is applying it to the next generation of tokenization with enhancements to bridge between private and public blockchain networks.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Abtahi about customer success stories, she cited:
“Platonic announced its launch in August of 2024 and has two production deployments underway for crypto market making collateral management and tokenization of a private credit fund due to be announced in Q4 of 2024.”
Assets That Can Be Tokenized Using Platonic’s Platform
What specific types of assets can be tokenized using Platonic’s platform? Abtahi answered:
“Platonic’s platform utilizes a rich, smart contract language that can model nearly any tokenized real-world asset or native digital asset. Initially Platonic is focused on the private fund complex (private credit, private debt, alternative asset funds, hedge funds, private equity, etc.) and commodities, which have a lower regulatory overhead rather than public securities. However, there is no intrinsic limitation, and any asset can benefit from the automation provided by smart contracts and on-chain private data.”
Benefitting Potential Clients And Partners
How does Platonic’s vendor and broker-agnostic approach benefit potential clients and partners? Abtahi revealed:
“By being vendor- and broker-agnostic, Platonic allows institutions to integrate our platform with their existing systems without being locked into specific providers. We set out to modularize the workflows in tokenization so that our Platonic smart contracts can fulfill any number of asset issuance and servicing roles while interoperating with other providers in this space. This flexibility ensures that clients can choose the best vendors for their needs while still benefiting from our tokenization and blockchain solutions. It also means that brokers and partners can work with us without having to overhaul their existing infrastructure, making the transition to digital finance smoother and more efficient.”
Explaining The Concept Of Platonic’s Layer 1 Blockchain
When asking Abtahi to explain the concept of Platonic’s Layer 1 blockchain and how it differs from other blockchain solutions in the market, she remarked:
“Platonic’s Layer 1 blockchain is designed to provide enterprise-grade privacy and scalability, offering a fully on-chain, decentralized, regulatory-compliant solution with no gas fees. It is vendor, broker, and blockchain agnostic, ensuring seamless interoperability.”
“What sets us apart from other blockchain solutions is our ability to integrate with legacy systems while maintaining transaction-level privacy and high throughput. Our AI-driven smart contracts and real-time settlement capabilities ensure that institutions can manage tokenized assets efficiently while adhering to the highest standards of security and compliance.”
Broader Adoption
What role do you see Platonic playing in the broader adoption of digital assets in traditional finance? Abtahi responded:
“We see Platonic playing a pivotal role in the broader adoption of digital assets by creating the infrastructure that bridges traditional finance and decentralized finance. Our focus on security, compliance, and scalability makes it easier for institutions to adopt tokenization and manage digital assets alongside traditional ones. By providing a compliant pathway for real-world assets to be tokenized and traded on-chain, we are helping to drive the next wave of innovation in finance.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Abtahi concluded:
“As entrepreneurs and agents of change, we have the unique opportunity to shape the future, building on the foundations we’ve inherited and pushing them further. Each of us contributes to a piece of the broader puzzle, innovating toward a more connected, financially interoperable world. We carry the responsibility to ensure that this evolution not only drives technological progress but also fosters a more inclusive and abundant future for all. By joining forces and aligning our visions, we can accomplish more than we ever could alone, creating a future where financial ecosystems are seamlessly interconnected, empowering individuals and institutions alike.”
