Author: Sandy Kaul
Compiled by: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher
As regulations become increasingly clear, trust in the underlying加密 technology continues to grow. The trend of using blockchain tokens to represent investable assets is heating up.
The assets targeted by this tokenization include: stocks, bonds, funds, ETFs, commodities, private equity, private credit, real estate, and other types of private funds. The industry commonly refers to these collectively as "Real World Assets," or RWA.
This name is used to distinguish them from native cryptocurrencies or altcoins—the latter invest in projects and protocols within the加密 ecosystem, rather than assets in the real world.
Data from early 2026 shows that RWA tokenization is experiencing explosive growth. It has grown an estimated 5 times since 2023, and 3 times between 2025 and 2026 alone.(1)
Starting from about $5 billion in 2023, the on-chain value now exceeds $25 billion. Private credit, treasury products, and real estate account for the vast majority.(2)
Growth is accelerating. Predictions show that the total scale of tokenized RWA could reach as high as $4 to $16 trillion by 2030, with some even predicting it will exceed $30 trillion by 2033.(3)
Regardless of the specific numbers,密集 announcements from core industry participants about tokenization plans have provided strong support for these predictions.
Pioneers Break Through
The tokenization of real-world assets is not new. Franklin Templeton launched the first tokenized money market fund as early as April 2021, which has been running 24/7 ever since, with a total size of nearly $1.5 billion on the Benji technology platform.
The real turning point that caught the market's attention was the extension of tokenization from government bonds and money market funds to stocks. Early entrants ignited this fire and accelerated the entire RWA tokenization process.
Robinhood took the lead in June 2025, announcing it would offer EU customers access to over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks. Its CEO Vlad Tenev said: "Tokenization is like a freight train, unstoppable, and will eventually吞噬 the entire financial system."(4)
The加密 exchange Kraken followed suit, launching xStocks on Ethereum and Solana in June of the same year, targeting investors outside the U.S., U.K., and other restricted regions. In the nine months since, xStocks recorded $3.6 billion in on-chain trading volume, approximately $25 billion in total trading volume, with nearly 80,000 wallets holding about $225 million in tokenized assets.(5)
Ondo Global Markets launched over 200 tokenized stocks in September 2025. In the first six months after the platform launched, the total value exceeded $500 million, with cumulative trading volume exceeding $7 billion. Combined with the over $2 billion locked in Ondo Finance's tokenized U.S. treasury products, its total size continues to lead.(6)
Entry of U.S. Traditional Institutions
The moves by emerging platforms were eye-catching enough. But what really made the entire industry realize that "a new era has arrived" was the series of announcements subsequently made by top traditional institutions.
The changes预示 by these announcements will be the most significant upgrade to the way securities are operated since the introduction of book-entry recording in the early 1970s.
The DTCC received a no-action letter from the SEC in December 2025, paving the way for it to provide tokenized RWA with DTC custody starting in the second half of 2026.(7)
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced the development of a platform for trading tokenized securities and on-chain settlement, supporting 24/7 operation, instant settlement, USD-denominated orders, and stablecoin funding.(8)
Nasdaq partnered with Kraken's parent company to launch equity token designs for listed companies, supporting programmable investor interaction and automated corporate actions such as proxy voting and dividend payments, expected to launch in early 2027.(9)
Three Tokenization Paths
Tokenization热度 continues to rise, but to truly understand how it will change the financial industry, several concepts need to be clarified. In the coming months, three types of tokenized products may appear on the market:
Digital Native Tokenized Products
Directly hold the underlying asset (stocks, bonds, commodities, or funds). Token holders enjoy full ownership and related protections. Ownership is recorded on a single on-chain ledger, with no off-chain records.
After交易 is verified, funds and assets are immediately settled atomically. Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund falls into this category.
Synthetic Asset Tokens
Also digital native products, but do not directly hold the underlying asset. It is more like a swap arrangement, passing the economic benefits generated by the underlying asset to the holder.
The token holder actually holds a share of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that holds the underlying assets. These products are also called "wrapped" or "asset-backed" investments. Payment and tokens are exchanged instantly and synchronously after交易 verification. Robinhood, Kraken, and Ondo's tokenized stocks fall into this category.
Digital Mirror Tokens
Do not directly hold the reference asset. Asset ownership is recorded in traditional off-chain form (e.g., limited partner interest shares). The token acts only as a "receipt" proving the holder owns that off-chain asset.
This type of product requires two sets of ledgers: the off-chain legacy system records actual ownership (usually updated overnight in batch processing), and the on-chain ledger separately tracks the tokens. Tokens are minted only after the position is established and verified off-chain; tokens are destroyed upon exit of the position. Subject to traditional T+1 or longer settlement cycles. The planned issuances by DTCC, NYSE, and NASDAQ fall into this category.
Permissionless vs Permissioned Tokens
All three models require the transfer agent to execute a new type of compliance process—"Know Your Token" (KYT). This process reviews the wallet addresses buying and selling the tokens and tracks the token's recent transfer history. The blockchain itself配合 this review through whitelist authentication, confirming the wallet is not on any restricted list and the holder has completed qualification verification.
Synthetic asset tokens require no additional verification beyond KYT, so they are permissionless tokens. As long as the wallet passes KYT verification and meets the holding conditions, the交易 can proceed directly.
Digital native products and digital mirror tokens are permissioned tokens. Passing KYT is not enough; holders must also complete full KYC/AML (Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering) review.
Utility Differences of the Three Models
Synthetic asset tokens have the widest utility within the加密 ecosystem, but offer the most limited protection for investor rights.
These tokens can flow freely between any wallets that meet KYT conditions, can be deposited into DeFi protocols as assets or collateral, allowing holders to seek liquidity 24/7, and have the opportunity to earn additional yield.
But the cost is: holders have no voting rights, economic benefits (yield, dividends) are passed indirectly rather than paid directly, and in most cases, there is no claim against the issuer of the underlying asset.
Digital native RWA tokens have slightly less utility but are subject to more restrictions. Tokens can be transferred between wallets, but only between wallets that have passed both KYT and KYC/AML verification. Holders are the official owners of the RWA,享有 full voting rights and direct economic benefits.
These tokens are difficult to use for DeFi—tokens staked to a protocol are mixed into a pool and cannot be对应 to a specific wallet. But they are extremely efficient as collateral for financing arrangements and derivative trades.
Because ownership records are updated on-chain second by second, their benefits cannot be achieved in traditional models. Take Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund as an example: investors start accruing interest the instant they open a position, and收益 are paid directly into the wallet daily in the form of incremental new tokens—something the digital mirror model cannot do.
Digital mirror tokens have the least utility of the three models. The management of rights and benefits is executed by off-chain legacy systems, distributions are made via fiat into traditional investment accounts, paid on fixed cycles (e.g., money market funds pay收益 at month-end). The token is tied to a specific off-chain position, cannot be transferred between wallets, is minted upon subscription, and destroyed upon redemption.
Even so, digital mirror tokens still have value: the token exists directly in the investor's wallet, rather than as a line item in an intermediary's database, offering higher transparency. The tokenized form also supports 24/7 trading, even if the off-chain ownership record has a update lag, the on-chain token record can be refreshed in real-time.
Moving in the Right Direction
Compared to the traditional methods that have dominated securities and fund processing for the past 50 years, all three RWA tokenization models offer unique advantages and new types of utility.
All paths are based on the latest blockchain technology, where tokens can act as "smart" wrappers, embedding and automating operational processes. Each model increases position transparency, makes assets easier to use as collateral, and some models even create entirely new yield opportunities.
Most importantly, RWA tokenization is pushing the entire financial industry, whether加密-native institutions or traditional financial participants, towards a common infrastructure.
Wallets will become the core financial interface for individuals and institutions. And the current wave of RWA tokenization is the bridge to that future.
Sources
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Coindesk, "RWA Tokenization Market Grows Nearly Fivefold in Three Years to $24 Billion" June 26, 2025
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Brikken, "Real World Asset Tokenization 2025: Market Leaders, Asset Trends, and Future Outlook", 2025
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Ibid.
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CNBC, "Asset Tokenization is a Freight Train Coming to the Market: Robinhood CEO", October 2, 2025
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Trading View News, "Kraken Launches xChange Engine to Power Tokenized Stock Trading"
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Ondo Finance, "Ondo Becomes Largest Dual Supplier of Tokenized Treasuries and Stocks, Total Value Locked Exceeds $2.5 Billion"
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DTCC, "Paving the Way for Tokenization of DTC-Custodied Assets"
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Intercontinental Exchange, "New York Stock Exchange Develops Tokenized Securities Platform"
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Nasdaq, "Nasdaq Unveils Equity Token Design, Puts Issuers at the Core of Tokenization"
