Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward is the co-founder and CEO of Manifest, a blockchain protocol that makes American assets crypto compatible, starting with real estate. Previously, he co-founded the Series C mortgage fintech Roostify, which powered $600B / year in mortgages for major financial institutions like Chase and HSBC. Roostify was acquired by CoreLogic in Feb 2023. Prior to Roostify, Nathaniel was on the founding team of Google+, Google’s social media platform. Nathaniel received his BSBA and Masters in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis.
Discover top fintech news and events!
Subscribe to FinTech Weekly's newsletter
Read by executives at JP Morgan, Coinbase, Blackrock, Klarna and more
As tokenization continues to gain traction in financial circles, real-world adoption remains a challenge. But what is truly holding it back? According to Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward, CEO and co-founder of Manifest, it's not just regulatory hurdles or infrastructure limitations – the true barrier lies in the products themselves.
If tokenization is going to make the leap from concept to mainstream, the products must be undeniable in their value. Nathaniel believes that only when these solutions clearly outperform traditional systems will tokenization become mainstream.
Nathaniel has a unique perspective on the intersection of fintech and traditional finance. He has witnessed firsthand the inefficiencies that exist in financial systems, which many consumers may not realize. In this interview, Nathaniel delves into his thoughts on how financial infrastructure is far from perfect and how automation and decentralization are challenging intermediaries and transforming the entire sector.
In this conversation, Nathaniel also discusses where he sees the most promising areas for collaboration between traditional finance and fintech, the overlooked potential of private market liquidity, and the critical role of financial regulators in fostering innovation.
With years of experience at the intersection of technology, finance, and real estate, Nathaniel provides valuable insights into the future of decentralized finance and tokenization – and how the right products could unlock explosive growth.
Enjoy the full interview below!
1. Tokenization has been a hot topic for years, but real-world adoption remains limited. What do you think is still holding it back — and what needs to shift to make it mainstream?
Most people think tokenization adoption is slow due to regulatory hurdles or lack of infrastructure – but the REAL issue is that asset issuers haven't created products compelling enough to justify switching from traditional alternatives.
Radical innovations only succeed when they're obviously and undeniably better than what already exists. If you need extensive advocacy to convince someone your product is superior, then it's simply not good enough. Tokenization will go mainstream when products are so clearly superior that their benefits become instantly obvious and irresistible.
2. From your vantage point, what’s the biggest misconception people have about how financial infrastructure actually works behind the scenes?
The biggest misconception is thinking financial infrastructure is a sleek, well-oiled machine – when in reality, it's a messy, outdated patchwork held together with duct tape and optimism. Just because your Venmo payment goes through instantly doesn't mean the backend isn't relying on tech older than you are.
People underestimate how fragile, inefficient, and manual many critical systems truly are. A perfect example is the GameStop saga in early 2021: behind the scenes, clearinghouses were overwhelmed and settlement delays forced brokerage firms like Robinhood to restrict trading, exposing just how brittle and outdated the infrastructure truly is.
3. How do you see the role of intermediaries evolving as more financial processes become automated or decentralized?
Intermediaries will have to radically reinvent themselves or risk becoming irrelevant. The future won't tolerate gatekeepers who merely facilitate transactions without adding real, distinctive value. As automation and decentralization reshape finance—especially with tokenization explicitly aiming to eliminate unnecessary intermediaries—only those entities that find ways to deliver specialized, irreplaceable value will thrive.
Forward-thinking intermediaries should focus less on maintaining their current role and more on innovating services uniquely suited to a blockchain-driven financial landscape, such as compliance management, trust validation, and dispute resolution.
4. You’ve worked at the intersection of fintech and traditional finance — where do you see the most promising areas for collaboration rather than competition?
Everyone's obsessed with fintech replacing traditional finance – but the most lucrative opportunities lie in strategic collaboration, particularly in compliance, infrastructure, and market reach. Traditional institutions bring regulatory expertise, capital, and massive customer bases, while fintech companies offer innovation, agility, and customer-focused technology.
When these strengths merge, the result isn't incremental improvement – it's transformational. A prime example is JPMorgan's collaboration with Plaid, which streamlined secure financial data sharing, enhancing customer experiences while maintaining regulatory compliance.
5. Many are betting on private markets as the next frontier in financial innovation. What’s one area in that space that people aren’t paying enough attention to yet?
Secondary liquidity in private markets is massively underrated. Everyone fixates on entry strategies – getting in early – but what truly transforms the market is making exits efficient, swift, and affordable.
The current status quo, where investors often face steep discounts or cumbersome exit processes, is fundamentally flawed. Crack the liquidity challenge, and private markets unlock explosive growth potential.
6. What’s something you think financial regulators are getting right — and what are they still fundamentally misunderstanding about innovation?
Regulators are absolutely right to prioritize market stability and investor protection – without that, nothing else matters. But their fundamental misunderstanding lies in viewing innovation primarily as a threat rather than as a necessity for maintaining long-term competitiveness and resilience. Innovation isn't merely beneficial; it's critical.
Overly cautious regulation doesn't just delay new solutions – it actively jeopardizes market efficiency and growth. A clear example is the slow regulatory approach to crypto and blockchain technology in the U.S., which has inadvertently pushed innovation offshore, benefiting other jurisdictions and putting domestic markets at a disadvantage. We’re now seeing regulators and legislators beginning to play cleanup from the mistakes of the last administration.
7. What advice would you give to professionals looking to build a career focused on the connection between real estate and decentralized finance?
The most important thing is to be a user of defi products. Too many builders enter this space from traditional finance without a practical understanding of blockchain products, and why people find them useful. The best way to build user empathy is to be a user yourself.
