Part 1: The Clash Between the End of the Monetary Cycle and the Productivity Narrative A sense of rupture is forming. In May 2026, the global financial market is at an extremely delicate stage. The core logic that has supported the global capital market for the past decade is undergoing profound changes. The long-term loose monetary environment is gradually receding, and high interest rates are becoming the new normal; global supply chains and geopolitical landscapes are being continuously restructured; the liquidity boundaries of the dollar system are constantly tightening; and the new round of technological revolution represented by AI has once again attracted global capital's full imagination of "productivity growth." This week, the dynamics in Washington and Silicon Valley are simultaneously the focus of the market. On one hand, the Federal Reserve is about to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting. The market is no longer concerned with just the interest rate path itself, but is trying to confirm whether the global liquidity era centered on the expansion of dollar credit over the past four decades has truly come to an end. On the other hand, NVIDIA is about to release its financial report. In the current environment, this is no longer just a technology company's performance disclosure, but more like a concentrated vote by global capital on whether "AI can still support the growth narrative." The stark contrast between the AI boom and real economic pressures perfectly encapsulates the true state of global capital markets in 2026. On one hand, AI is seen as one of the few sectors globally with long-term growth certainty. Capital continues to concentrate on chips, computing power, and AI infrastructure, hoping to offset systemic anxieties caused by slowing global economic growth and pressure on purchasing power through increased technological productivity. On the other hand, real-world pressures are becoming increasingly apparent. Recent US PPI data has remained high, and long-term US Treasury yields have continued to rise, reigniting market concerns about the "prolonged high interest rates." Meanwhile, consumer data from companies like Walmart are beginning to reflect a marginal weakening of consumer spending power. Under the dual pressure of inflation and high interest rates, even the most resilient consumer system is entering a repricing phase. More importantly, the market inertia of relying on "liquidity support" is failing. In an era of low interest rates, the market is willing to pay a very high premium for future growth because the cost of capital is low enough, and time itself is not expensive. But as interest rates rise again and capital becomes scarce again, capital begins to re-examine a more fundamental question: does the value of an asset come from imagination or from real disposable income? The market begins to redefine "safety." This means that the global capital market is no longer in an era where "as long as liquidity is sufficient, risky assets will rise across the board."What truly matters in the future may not be how much more a particular asset class can rise, but rather: when the world enters an environment of high friction, high volatility, and high uncertainty, will assets still possess the ability to maintain stable liquidity, continuous settlement, and preserve value across cycles? This is a more fundamental question than mere "price fluctuations," and it's a question that more and more strategic capital is beginning to rethink in 2026. Part Two: Historical Echoes—From the Suez Crisis to the Logic of Settlement Rights Global capital's understanding of "safe assets" is changing. For the past few decades, the global capital market's understanding of "safe assets" has been built upon a highly stable international financial order. The dollar system held absolute dominance; the global cross-border clearing system operated efficiently; US Treasury bonds were considered risk-free assets globally; and SWIFT and the international correspondent banking system handled the vast majority of global cross-border settlement functions. At that stage, the market's logic for judging asset safety was actually very simple: as long as the asset itself had credit backing and could continuously generate returns, it was considered "safe." However, in recent years, more and more events have begun to make global institutions realize that the value of an asset itself is not equivalent to its disposable nature. In other words, what truly determines asset security is not just what you "own," but whether you can freely access it in any environment. This is the true legacy of the Suez Crisis. To understand the anxiety surrounding "liquidity security" in global capital markets today, we must return to the 1956 Suez Crisis. That year, Egyptian President Nasser announced the return of control of the Suez Canal. On the surface, this was a conflict about geopolitics and sovereignty; but from the perspective of financial order, it truly exposed the decisive influence of the modern international clearing system on asset control. After Britain, France, and the US froze Egypt's overseas foreign exchange assets, even though Egypt still owned the canal itself, it still struggled to complete international procurement and cross-border payments. The problem wasn't "whether or not there are assets," but rather: whether the assets still possess the ability to enter the global settlement system. This historical experience was not truly valued by the market for a long time. Because the benefits of globalization and the expansion of dollar liquidity masked many issues regarding settlement rights. However, in recent years, with the intensification of global geopolitical frictions, the market has begun to realize again that in a centralized financial system, assets essentially still depend on the recognition of clearing networks and ledger systems. If settlement pathways are blocked, paper wealth itself may quickly lose its meaning. Market focus is shifting from yield to settlement rights.Today, AI assets, represented by Nvidia, are seen as the "digital oil" of the new era. However, global capital is also realizing that if asset liquidation paths remain entirely reliant on a single centralized system, even high paper returns do not necessarily equate to true security. Therefore, a crucial but not fully understood shift is occurring in the global financial market in 2026: capital's focus is gradually shifting from "asset yield" to "asset settlement rights." This explains why, in recent years, gold, offshore RMB, stablecoins, on-chain US Treasury bonds, and cross-border digital settlement networks have all attracted increasing attention from institutions. These tools all address the same fundamental question: how to re-establish asset liquidity certainty amidst escalating global order frictions. Part Three: Infrastructure Layer – Global Capital Seeks a "Second Liquidation Track" When capital efficiency begins to determine asset value. With global interest rates remaining high for an extended period, the "friction costs" hidden for many years in the traditional financial system are being rapidly amplified. In the past, during the low-interest-rate era, slower cross-border liquidation and longer capital tied up were not the most critical market issues. This was because funding costs were low enough, liquidity was ample, and time itself was not expensive. However, the situation has completely changed since 2026. With long-term US Treasury yields remaining high and global financing costs rising across the board, every day funds are tied up incurs real costs. Previously overlooked issues such as settlement delays, redundant cross-border pathways, and layers of interbank correspondent banking have rapidly become real pressures on institutional balance sheets. Waiting for settlement itself has become a drain on resources. This means that the core of future global capital competition is no longer just about "who owns more assets," but about who has more efficient capital mobility. This is precisely why global digital financial infrastructure is undergoing accelerated restructuring. The second track is essentially about reconstructing "liquidity security." In the past, the market's understanding of asset security was largely limited to "whether the assets are of high quality." But now, more and more institutions are realizing that if an asset cannot be quickly deployed, settled in real time, and freely transferred at critical moments, its security is incomplete. When the old world's problem is no longer "whether there are enough assets," but "whether the assets can still be used," the importance of the new generation of financial infrastructure is no longer just about technological upgrades, but about the reconstruction of liquidity sovereignty.This is why new digital clearing networks like mBridge are attracting increasing attention from sovereign institutions, banks, and large asset management platforms. What it truly changes is not just payment speed, but the "liquidity security" of assets in a complex global environment. The past global financial system was essentially a highly centralized, single-track system. Funds needed to pass through fixed clearing levels and rely on specific correspondent banks and a central ledger system for confirmation. Now, global capital is attempting to establish a clearing path with lower friction, higher real-time performance, and greater autonomy. This effectively means that global financial competition is gradually shifting from "asset competition" to "clearing capability competition"—from "holding assets" to "maintaining liquidity." For strategic capital, the biggest impact of this change is that what truly matters in the future is no longer just the book value of assets, but whether assets possess sustainable liquidity. The simultaneous rise of new capital narratives such as AI, computing power, digital assets, and RWA alongside digital settlement infrastructure essentially corresponds to the same direction: global capital is moving from an era of "owning assets" to an era of "maintaining liquidity." In a global environment characterized by high volatility, high friction, and high uncertainty, those who can ensure the continuous flow, settlement, and utilization of assets are more likely to truly navigate the next global cycle. Part Four: Deutsche Bank's Solution – Re-establishing the Balance Between Assets, Liquidity, and Risk. As markets enter an era of high volatility, single-logic approaches become increasingly fragile. Over the past decade, many investment portfolios have relied on the same underlying logic: sustained global liquidity easing and long-term rises in risky assets. In such an environment, single-directional strategies often yielded good results. However, since 2026, the market structure has changed significantly. High interest rates, geopolitical friction, liquidity shifts, and global asset revaluation are occurring simultaneously. The past model of relying on unilateral trends to cover risks is becoming increasingly difficult to penetrate complex cycles. Therefore, for institutions, what truly matters is no longer just "whether they can generate returns," but rather: how to re-establish the balance between assets, liquidity, and risk in a high-volatility environment. Deutsche Bank's "Three-Directional Flow" Framework. Based on this assessment, German company Singularity Technology (02270.HK) is building a more structured, cross-cycle framework around three major directions: digital finance, securities finance, and industrial finance. 1. Capital outflow: Anchor point for the restructuring and allocation of digital "hard currency".Faced with the high-frequency fluctuations in fiat currency credit, Deshang transforms liquidity into a portfolio of digital assets with extremely robust risk resistance: BTC Strategic Allocation: As a mature asset with a market capitalization of $1.8 trillion, BTC is the best technological contract to combat the risk of shifting order. It provides 24/7 borderless liquidity and has no "counterparty risk," making it a "hard currency" that transcends geopolitical blockades. CNH Stablecoin Bridge: Utilizing Hong Kong's first batch of licensed stablecoins (such as Anchorpoint), Deshang assists capital in rapidly entering global asset pools denominated in offshore RMB, preserving key currency sovereignty amidst uncertainty. 2. Asset Outbound: RWA Revitalizes Real-World Industry Exports. Addressing the liquidity depletion of real-world assets due to physical blockages, Deshang will use RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization) technology to digitally "escape" high-quality domestic industrial assets: Overcoming Blockages: By identifying underlying assets with stable cash flow, such as charging piles and photovoltaics, and tokenizing their revenue rights, Deshang will solve the "thrombosis" problem when assets are physically blocked. Even if physical channels are paused, the digitized value can still be cleared in real time in global liquidity pools, combating inflationary pressures. 3. Bringing Back Profits: The "Invisible Safety Belt" of Derivatives. In high market volatility, Deutsche Bank will utilize securities and financial instruments such as TRS (Total Return Swap) to achieve precise hedging and profit repatriation: Strategic Advantages: Allows institutions to obtain economic exposure to global commodities or crypto ETFs without directly holding physical positions, achieving asset risk isolation and ultimate optimization of tax structure. Synergistic Effects: Through industrial finance to discover the underlying, digital finance to construct contracts, and securities and financial channels to execute, a complete "immune system" for corporate assets is formed. Part Five: Conclusion—Rethinking Asset Security Amidst the Cracks in Order In May 2026, two things are happening simultaneously in the global financial market: the monetary order of an era is beginning to come to an end, while a new cycle of digital productivity and global liquidity restructuring is gradually taking shape. On the surface, the market is still discussing AI, interest rates, gold, BTC, and global asset prices. But the deeper change is that global capital is redefining "security." In the past, the market believed that as long as assets were of high quality, wealth could be preserved in the long term. Now, more and more people are beginning to realize that what truly matters is not just whether assets exist, but whether they can continue to flow and be settled in complex environments, and whether they are continuously recognized by the global system.As markets begin to prioritize liquidity, settlement rights, and asset availability, digital asset management may no longer be about managing just returns, but rather the ability of assets to survive in a complex world. This, perhaps, is a new challenge that global strategic capital must confront as the "Powell era" gradually comes to an end.