Current State of Asset Tokenization

Throughout time, the physical nature of tradable assets has evolved from grains, shells, and cattle to real estate, gems, and collectible gaming cards, as per their cultural relevance and societal needs. With the advancements in the blockchain sector over the last fifteen years, the traditional means of exchange of tradable assets observe the arrival of a new competitor. Blockchain technology has caused the inception of Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization which demonstrates ownership and/or transactions of digital tokens as a proxy for representation of the ownership and/or transaction of RWA.

The first tokenization project, per The Block’s Funding database, Bitbond, was founded in 2013. Bitbond is a platform that enables the issuance, settlement, and custody of financial instruments with the help of blockchain technology and tokenization. Although RWA tokenization protocols have existed since 2013, we have observed fairly limited adoption.