The $37 Billion Tokenization Boom Has an Ownership Problem

How massive is the tokenization market? Well, it’s sufficiently big that the grand equipment of capital markets is now flooding in. Some of the important thing stats from 2026 present the stunning scale of development in tokenized property. 

• Tokenized RWAs reached $37.29 billion on public blockchains as of August 3, excluding stablecoins.
• Treasury and money-market merchandise accounted for $16.16 billion, roughly 43% of the full.
• Commodities stood at $4.60 billion, whereas equities and ETFs reached $2.16 billion.

What’s extra, US regulators are starting to attract firmer traces. In January, SEC workers divided tokenized securities into issuer-sponsored merchandise and third-party-created variations. 

An issuer can combine distributed-ledger expertise into its “grasp securityholder file,” permitting an on-chain switch to maneuver the safety on the official register, whereas third-party constructions can go away authorized possession recorded elsewhere and provides the token holder a separate entitlement.

BeInCrypto spoke to Eva Meng, Head of Matrixdock, Myles Harrison, Chief Product Officer at AMINA Bank, Billy Miller, COO of Securitize, and Roshan Robert, CEO of OKX US, about tokenization’s actual battleground. 

Ownership Begins with Settlement

Eva Meng, Head of Matrixdock, locations settlement on the heart of the possession query.

“An on-chain ledger can precisely document token possession with out establishing whether or not the underlying asset is offered for settlement. The actual take a look at comes when the declare is exercised: can recorded possession truly be carried by means of to settlement?”

Matrixdock’s tokenized gold (XAUm) asset exhibits how such rights cross from an onchain stability into bodily supply. 

In April 2025, a holder burned 32.148 XAUm and obtained a one-kilogram LBMA gold bar inside T+3 of the redemption request, linking the token burn to a corresponding launch from custody.

The stakes rise as tokenization reaches securities, the place possession determines entry to dividends, voting rights and company actions. 

Myles Harrison, Chief Product Officer at AMINA Bank, argues institutional traders have a tendency to start from these authorized and financial rights somewhat than from blockchain choice.

“The token isn’t the asset. It’s a illustration of a declare, and that declare solely means one thing if a regulated establishment stands behind it and is legally obliged to honor it. When I converse to institutional purchasers, their questions are by no means about which chain an asset sits on. They wish to know who owes them what, underneath which legislation, and what occurs if one thing goes mistaken. Those solutions reside within the document of possession, not within the token itself.”

Securitize COO Billy Miller attracts the same line between tokens created round securities held elsewhere and issuer-sponsored tokens integrated into the possession document itself.

“In an issuer-sponsored mannequin, the issuer authorizes tokenization with the token representing the precise safety and possession, akin to how book-entry is a digital illustration of shares held on the switch agent.”

Securitize put the mannequin into use when its widespread inventory began trading on the NYSE underneath SECZ on July 2. Eligible US traders are additionally in a position to entry tokenized SECZ by means of Securitize. 

The tokens launched on Avalanche and Solana whereas representing the identical widespread inventory buying and selling on the NYSE, giving one safety each typical and on-chain types of possession.

Securitize is now formally a public firm, listed on the @NYSE underneath the ticker SECZ.

Our focus is unchanged: constructing the regulated infrastructure for the subsequent era of capital markets.

To everybody who helped us get right here, thanks.

Tokenize the World. pic.twitter.com/XVhjA5udA9

— Securitize (@Securitize) July 2, 2026

💡 Did you realize? Robinhood’s 2025 “SpaceX inventory tokens” gave traders by-product publicity somewhat than direct possession of SpaceX shares. The controversy uncovered a central threat in tokenization: proudly owning a token doesn’t essentially put the holder on the corporate’s share register or grant the rights connected to the underlying fairness. 

Transfer Agents

Transfer brokers have long maintained security-holder data, processed adjustments in possession, and administered distributions. With tokenized securities, recordkeeping turns into extra intently tied to the commerce as a result of an on-chain switch can feed into the official register, making the standard and velocity of recordkeeping a part of the buying and selling expertise itself.

Traditional exchanges are already constructing round this position. 

In March, the NYSE named Securitize as the primary digital switch agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for company and ETF issuers on its deliberate digital buying and selling platform, whereas the 2 firms additionally agreed to work on requirements masking digital switch brokers and tokenization brokers.

Roshan Robert, CEO of OKX US, sees the switch agent and blockchain as complementary parts.

“Tokenization works greatest when the asset is tied on to the official possession document. A digital switch agent maintains that document and manages transfers, distributions and company actions. Blockchain infrastructure supplies the velocity, transparency and international attain that make these property extra helpful. Strong tokenized markets want each trusted possession data and high-performance blockchain infrastructure. Together, they will enable tokenized property to maneuver securely and, in the end, commerce across the clock.”

The institutional footprint round regulated tokenization is rising alongside these market plans. Securitize reported $3.4 billion in property underneath administration on the finish of March 2026 and $1.9 billion of combination transaction quantity throughout the first quarter, figures printed shortly earlier than its July NYSE itemizing.

Around-the-Clock Trading Reaches the Old Market Clock

The NYSE is developing a regulated digital venue designed for twenty-four/7 tokenized securities buying and selling, immediate settlement and stablecoin-based funding, pairing its Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based post-trade techniques.

Harrison sees the troublesome work arriving past the buying and selling venue, the place counterparties, compliance groups and settlement techniques nonetheless function in response to schedules refined over a long time.

“At AMINA Bank, we settle 24/7, 365. We’re at all times on-line. But attempt clearing one thing on a Saturday night by means of a conventional establishment; it simply doesn’t occur. And that’s not a expertise downside. The complete monetary system – from the processes and the staffing fashions to the compliance infrastructure – was constructed round market opening hours and optimized over a long time. Unwinding is like turning an oil tanker. It will occur, however anybody telling you it’s 12 months away is underestimating the problem.”

Meng sees the identical pressure in gold, an asset whose value can reply to geopolitical occasions and macroeconomic releases whereas key parts of the standard market stay certain to established working hours.

“The problem is that solely a part of the stack is at all times on. Secondary buying and selling and transfers can proceed on-chain, whereas underlying markets, banking, custody, hedging, and primary-market exercise nonetheless observe conventional working hours.”

Tokenized gold can subsequently proceed forming a value whereas typical routes are closed, giving onchain markets an early learn on new info.

“The tougher take a look at comes when the tokenized value strikes away from the underlying market whereas the mechanisms that usually convey them again into alignment, corresponding to arbitrage, hedging, minting and redemption, are unavailable. Liquidity suppliers then have to hold extra stock, foundation and hole threat till these markets reopen,” Meng mentioned.

Continuous buying and selling turns into economically sturdy when liquidity suppliers can handle publicity throughout these uneven schedules, with sufficient money settlement, custody and redemption capability to help costs by means of weekends and in a single day classes.

The Registry Outranks the Chain

Blockchain choice nonetheless impacts transaction prices, execution velocity and entry, though Harrison sees authorized and operational design carrying better significance for establishments deciding whether or not an asset can enter portfolios.

“The chain issues far lower than folks assume. I see establishments spending months evaluating which blockchain to make use of when the true query is whether or not the authorized and operational infrastructure round their asset is in place. Can they settle? Can they comply throughout jurisdictions? Can their counterparties entry it? The business spent virtually two years getting misplaced within the semantic between tokenized deposit, a CBDC and a stablecoin when technologically they’re an identical. The infrastructure across the token is what determines whether or not institutional purchasers can use it,” mentioned Harrison from AMINA Bank. 

SECZ supplies one illustration. The identical issuer-sponsored widespread inventory launched throughout Avalanche and Solana, leaving the financial rights connected to the share whereas blockchain selection governs the place an eligible investor can maintain and switch the tokenized type.

The SEC’s January guidance provides the registry related prominence from a regulatory perspective, centring issuer-sponsored tokenization on the grasp securityholder file and the connection between an onchain switch and the legally acknowledged possession document.

Where Tokenization Breaks Down

Continuous buying and selling turns into extra sophisticated when a token retains altering palms whereas its reference market has closed, leaving value discovery concentrated within the tokenized asset till typical buying and selling resumes.

Harrison factors to tokenized equities.

“You can commerce the token at any hour, however the underlying safety doesn’t reprice exterior conventional market hours. You’re shopping for a wrapper whose reference worth is frozen till the market reopens.”

Tokenized Treasuries increase a special subject. They are already the largest real-world asset category tracked by RWA.xyz, with $16.16 billion distributed throughout 85 merchandise as of August 3, but AMINA’s purchasers can already purchase typical T-bills by means of the financial institution’s securities vendor license. 

In their case, wrapping the identical publicity in a token provides restricted additional utility except it improves entry, settlement or use elsewhere onchain.

“The tokenized model solves a distribution downside that doesn’t exist for them.”

Tokenization earns its financial worth the place a blockchain illustration improves entry, settlement, portability or use as collateral, whereas the possession document preserves a holder’s enforceable rights all through the method. 

The market is already giant sufficient for this distinction to develop into commercially necessary, particularly as tokenized securities start coming into regulated public-market venues.

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