Tokenization is like turning your favorite things into digital collectibles. Imagine owning a slice of your dream house but as a piece of code on the internet. Sounds cool, right? That’s what tokenization does—it takes real stuff, like property or stocks, and creates digital versions of them on a blockchain as tokenized assets.
But right now, only a tiny fraction—0.003%—of global assets are tokenized. Most of the action is happening in big institutions, not everyday people. Because it’s complicated, expensive, and sometimes feels like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
In the U.S., tokenized assets get lumped together with cryptocurrencies, which makes banks and companies nervous. They’d rather play it safe with AI or other tech. But there’s hope! Big names like BlackRock and Visa are jumping in, and that’s shaking things up.
This year has been buzzing with progress. BlackRock launched a tokenized money-market fund. Visa made it easier for banks to create digital tokens, and Mastercard teamed up with JPMorgan to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper. Even Tether got in on the action by creating its own tokenization platform.
Tokenization could make investing more accessible. You wouldn’t need millions to own a piece of something valuable; you could buy just a fraction. Plus, blockchain makes transactions faster and cheaper while reducing risks with smart contracts.
But not everything needs to be tokenized. Owning a digital slice of a Picasso painting sounds fancy, but you can’t hang it on your wall or enjoy its beauty in person. And if these tokens are priced poorly or hard to sell, investors could lose big.
Experts predict tokenized assets could skyrocket from $2 billion today to $600 billion by 2030. That’s huge! But for this to happen, we need clearer rules and smarter strategies. The tech is there; it just needs the right environment to thrive.
Tokenization isn’t perfect right now. But with some tweaks and time, it could change how we think about owning and trading assets forever.