Tokenization doesn’t robotically make hard-to-trade belongings liquid, trade executives stated at Paris Blockchain Week, pushing again on the concept placing non-public credit score, actual property or different illiquid merchandise onchain will by itself create lively secondary markets.
Talking throughout a panel moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Oya Celiktemur, Ondo Finance gross sales director for Europe, the Center East and Africa (EMEA), stated there may be nonetheless a false impression that tokenizing illiquid belongings could make them simpler to commerce.
“I feel there’s nonetheless this concept that tokenizing one thing illiquid will in some way magically make it a liquid asset, which is simply not true,” stated Celiktemur. She added that belongings like actual property and personal credit score “have been by no means that liquid” to start with.
Francesco Ranieri Fabracci, head of tokenization growth at Tether, made the same level. “It’s not that when you put an asset onchain, it will likely be liquid,” he stated, arguing that solely a narrower set of devices, together with bonds, cash market funds and stablecoins, are prone to obtain constant liquidity in tokenized markets.
The dialogue comes because the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) sector continues to develop, shifting consideration from issuance progress towards whether or not tokenized merchandise can obtain significant exercise and transfer past restricted distribution channels.
Tokenized RWA market grows, however stays concentrated
Knowledge from RWA anayltics platform RWA.xyz exhibits the tokenized RWA market expanded from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to roughly $29.9 billion on April 16, 2026, greater than tripling in measurement in a single yr.
The expansion was led by comparatively standardized and broadly traded belongings. Tokenized US Treasury Debt and commodities accounted for a big share of the market all year long.
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Against this, classes usually related to decrease liquidity remained comparatively smaller regardless of sturdy share progress. Tokenized actual property elevated from about $35 million to $296 million, whereas non-public fairness rose from almost $60 million to $223 million.
Different segments, together with asset-backed credit score and company credit score, additionally expanded sharply in absolute phrases, indicating rising issuance throughout a broader vary of devices.
However market worth alone doesn’t show liquidity. Excellent worth can rise as a result of extra belongings are issued, even when secondary market buying and selling stays skinny.
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