What Are Real-World Asset Tokenisation?

RWA Tokenisation in One Paragraph

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation is the process of issuing a digital token on a blockchain that represents ownership of — or a claim on — a real-world asset. That asset could be a US Treasury bill, a share of private credit, a gold bar, a commercial property, a piece of fine art, or even a carbon credit. The token is programmable, transferable 24/7, and can be subdivided into fractional units that let investors gain exposure with far less capital than buying the underlying asset directly.

Why the Excitement?

RWA tokenisation matters for several reasons:

• Fractional ownership — a £10 million commercial property can be split into 10,000 tokens at £1,000 each, opening illiquid assets to smaller investors
• 24/7 settlement — token transfers settle in minutes, not the T+2 or T+3 cycle of traditional securities
• Transparency — ownership records are on a public ledger, reducing fraud and improving auditability
• Global access — anyone with a crypto wallet can access tokenised US Treasuries, regardless of their location or banking infrastructure
• Programmability — smart contracts can automate dividend payments, compliance checks and redemptions

The market is already substantial. BlackRock's BUIDL fund — a tokenised money market fund on Ethereum — surpassed $2 billion in AUM within months of launching. Ondo Finance offers tokenised Treasuries (OUSG) with hundreds of millions in AUM. Securitize acts as a transfer agent for multiple tokenised funds. Boston Consulting Group projects the RWA tokenisation market could reach $16 trillion by 2030.

What Assets Are Being Tokenised?

The RWA market spans several major categories:

• Treasuries and government bonds — BlackRock BUIDL, Ondo OUSG, Franklin Templeton FOBXX, Hashnote
• Private credit — Centrifuge, Maple Finance, Figure Markets, Goldfinch
• Commodities — PAX Gold (PAXG), Tether Gold (XAUT), Backed Gold (bGold)
• Real estate — RealT, Lofty, Landshare, Property.fi
• Equities — Backed Finance (bTokens), Swarm (SMT), Synthetix (synthetic exposure)
• Carbon credits — Toucan, KlimaDAO, Flowcarbon

How Does It Differ from Traditional Finance?

In traditional finance, buying a Treasury bill means going through a broker, settling via a clearing house, and holding the security in a custodian account. The process takes 1–2 business days and involves multiple intermediaries. With tokenised Treasuries, you connect a wallet, click "buy," and the token representing your T-bill holding is in your wallet within minutes. Yield accrues automatically via smart contract — no dividend processing or claim forms.

The trade-off is that tokenised assets carry new risks: smart contract bugs, custody failures, and an evolving regulatory landscape. We cover these in detail in our Risks of RWA Tokenisation guide.

Who's Building It?

• BlackRock — the world's largest asset manager, launched BUIDL on Ethereum in March 2024
• Ondo Finance — crypto-native issuer tokenising US Treasuries and high-grade bonds
• Centrifuge — platform for tokenising private credit and real-world assets on Ethereum and Polkadot
• Securitize — regulated transfer agent and primary issuance platform for tokenised securities
• Backed Finance — Swiss issuer creating tokenised trackers of ETFs and equities
• Maple Finance — institutional lending platform with tokenised private credit pools

The Market Opportunity

According to the Boston Consulting Group and ADDX's 2023 report, the tokenised illiquid asset market could reach $16 trillion by 2030. That includes $3.2 trillion in tokenised real estate, $2.4 trillion in private credit, and $1.2 trillion in tokenised equities. Even if these projections prove optimistic by a factor of two, the opportunity is enormous.

The driving forces are clear: institutional adoption (BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, JPMorgan), regulatory clarity in key jurisdictions (MiCA in Europe, Singapore's MAS frameworks), and the maturation of blockchain infrastructure (layer-2 scaling, institutional-grade custody).

The Bottom Line

RWA tokenisation is not a future concept — it's happening now, with billions of dollars already on-chain. It represents one of the most significant intersections of traditional finance and blockchain technology. For investors, it opens up asset classes that were previously inaccessible, with improved liquidity and transparency. But it also comes with new risks that require careful understanding.

Next Steps

• How RWA Tokenisation Works — the technology behind it
• Tokenised Treasury Bills — the biggest RWA category so far
• How to Invest in RWA Tokenisation — practical UK investor guide

Nothing on this site is financial advice. All content is for educational purposes only. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions. Back to all guides