Trillions of Dollars Enter the Market: How Will RWA Reshape the Global Financial Landscape?

In early 2026, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink asserted at the Davos Forum that blockchain tokenization is the future of finance. His company had already deployed over $2.5 billion in tokenized funds on Ethereum, representing not just a technological experiment, but a collective vote by traditional financial giants on the future form of capital.

Early in the morning, a fund manager in Hong Kong, facing a client's redemption request, no longer needs to wait for the lengthy clearing process of the traditional banking system. With a few clicks of the mouse, the client's fund shares are instantly converted into standardized digital tokens. Smart contracts automatically match buyers, completing the transaction and settlement within minutes—funds arrive in real time, and ownership is clearly traceable.

This is not science fiction, but a real-world transformation driven by asset tokenization. RWA, or Real-World Asset Tokenization, refers to using blockchain technology to digitally map physical or legal assets—such as bonds, real estate, commodities, intellectual property, and even investment funds—into digital tokens that can be issued, circulated, managed, and settled on the blockchain. This process not only changes the form of asset holding and trading but also restructures the operating logic of financial markets.

01 The Crest of the Wave: Traditional Institutions Invest Heavily, a Trillion-Dollar Market Poised for Growth

The global RWA market is transitioning from proof-of-concept to explosive growth. According to statistics from the digital asset data platform RWA.xyz, as of September 2025, the total market capitalization of global on-chain RWA reached $30.23 billion, more than five times the approximately $5 billion at the end of 2023. This growth curve is still accelerating.

Institutional forecasts are even more optimistic. Standard Chartered Bank predicted in a special report released in 2024 that the total value of tokenized RWA could exceed $2 trillion by 2028, implying a nearly 57-fold growth potential in the coming years. Boston Consulting Group's outlook is even more aggressive, stating in its report "Tokenization: The Next Frontier for Finance and Real Assets" that by 2030, the global tokenized asset market could reach $16 trillion, approximately 10% of global GDP.

The entry of traditional financial giants is the strongest signal of this trend. BlackRock, with over $10 trillion in assets under management, launched its first tokenized fund, "BUIDL," on Ethereum in March 2024, primarily investing in cash equivalents such as U.S. Treasury bonds and repurchase agreements. By early 2026, the fund had rapidly surpassed $2.5 billion, becoming the largest tokenized money market fund on the blockchain. Franklin Templeton issued the U.S. government money market fund token, FOBXX, using its own public chain, "Franklin OnChain," while Goldman Sachs completed multiple bond tokenizations through its digital asset platform, GS DAP.

The Asia-Pacific market was also active. In October 2025, CMB International, a subsidiary of China Merchants Bank, partnered with Singapore's digital exchange DigiFT and the high-performance public chain Solana to successfully tokenize a U.S. dollar money market fund mutually recognized in Hong Kong and Singapore, issuing the token "CMBMINT." This was not only the first tokenized public fund spanning multiple jurisdictions but also marked a significant breakthrough for Chinese banking groups in the RWA (Retail Asset Wafer) field. This project enables 24/7 secondary market trading of shares through blockchain, significantly improving the liquidity of cross-border funds.

02 Technological Core: From Centralized Ownership Confirmation to Programmable Verification

Traditional asset trading has long been hampered by pain points such as unclear ownership, lengthy processes, high intermediary costs, and fragmented liquidity. RWA tokenization leverages the immutability, traceability, and automated execution capabilities of smart contracts to build a completely new solution. Its core process can be broken down into three closely interconnected stages:
First, off-chain ownership confirmation and structuring. This is the cornerstone of legal compliance, ensuring clear ownership and fair value of assets on the chain. For example, real estate tokenization requires property rights investigation, legal opinion issuance, and third-party audit and valuation; bond tokenization requires clarifying the issuer's creditworthiness, principal and interest repayment terms, etc. This stage transforms real-world legal rights into standardized data that can be recognized by smart contracts.

Second, on-chain mapping and token issuance. Through smart contracts, the confirmed asset rights are anchored to the blockchain, generating digital tokens representing their ownership or income rights. Public blockchains such as Ethereum, Stellar, and Polygon, as well as permissioned blockchains like JPMorgan Chase's Onyx and Goldman Sachs' GS DAP, have become the main carrier networks. Token standards such as ERC-3643 (security tokens) and ERC-20 (fungible tokens) provide the foundation for interoperability.

Finally, there's on-chain governance and automated management. Smart contracts can automatically execute rules for profit distribution, collateral liquidation, and compliance checks. For example, interest from tokenized government bonds can be automatically distributed to holders' wallets daily; once the token value of loan collateral falls below the liquidation line, the liquidation contract will automatically trigger an auction.

A typical example comes from the intellectual property field. In 2025, Zhongwan International assisted the new consumer brand SIGUWORKS in tokenizing the IP licensing rights of its cartoon character "KOALA" in Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe, with an issuance scale of tens of millions of US dollars. Investors' purchased tokens directly correspond to future IP licensing revenue sharing in specific regions. All licensing contracts, transaction records, and distribution rules are stored on the blockchain, achieving transparency and automated distribution of revenue streams, making it one of the largest IP RWA projects in Asia.

03 Efficiency Revolution: Unlocking "Frozen Capital," Activating Dormant Value

The most direct value of tokenization lies in liquidity release. In traditional markets, a large number of high-quality assets lack liquidity due to high investment thresholds and complex transaction processes, becoming "frozen capital." Tokenization, through fragmented ownership, breaks down high-value assets into small, flexibly tradable shares, allowing retail investors to participate in markets previously only open to institutions.

Taking commodities as an example, in July 2025, Ningbo launched the nation's first "blockchain + digital warehouse receipt" trust project. This project uses 80 million yuan worth of diesel stored by a large refining company as the underlying asset. It monitors tank inventory in real time through IoT sensors and uploads warehouse receipt information to the blockchain to generate tamper-proof digital certificates, thereby establishing a property rights trust and issuing beneficiary certificates. This solves the historical problems of difficulty in establishing ownership of liquid goods and high regulatory costs, transforming previously difficult-to-finance movable assets into credible and transferable digital assets.

A white paper jointly released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Aptos Labs analyzes that if Hong Kong shifts from traditional financial infrastructure to a tokenized system, its fund industry size is expected to double within five years. This prediction is partly based on feedback from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot program, which shows strong market demand for 24/7 trading, real-time settlement, and a richer product portfolio. Increased efficiency not only means faster transaction speeds but also represents lower capital allocation costs and increased market depth.

04 Compliance Evolution: Regulatory Sandboxes and the "Substance Over Form" Principle

The booming development of RWA is driving the accelerated evolution of global regulatory frameworks. The core challenge lies in balancing innovation incentives with risk control, and the key principle is "substance over form."

Hong Kong has demonstrated foresight in this area. Regulatory bodies have established the principle of "same business, same risk, same regulation," constructing a dual-track system: if RWA tokens constitute "securities" under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, then regardless of their technical form, they must be issued, promoted, and traded by licensed institutions and comply with information disclosure regulations. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the "Ensemble Project Sandbox" in August 2024, inviting banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered to test use cases such as tokenized deposits and bond settlements in a controlled environment, accumulating experience for the development of comprehensive rules.

The United States exhibits a fragmented regulatory landscape at the federal and state levels. The core legal basis remains the "Howey Test," established by a 1946 Supreme Court precedent, used to determine whether a token is a security. If deemed a security token, its issuance must be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or meet exemption conditions. In 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act, attempting to provide a clearer classification and regulatory path for digital assets, but comprehensive legislation is still in progress.

The EU's Crypto-Asset Markets Act, which came into effect in 2024, established an authorization and regulatory framework for the issuance and trading of crypto assets, including asset-backed tokens. These explorations collectively point to a trend: major global financial centers are shifting from blanket bans to risk-based, more nuanced regulation, aiming to pave the way for compliant innovation.

05 Ecosystem Integration: From Payment Cornerstone to Sovereign Infrastructure

RWA's ultimate vision extends far beyond the tokenization of financial products. Discussions at the 2026 Davos Forum revealed a shift in consensus from "whether to adopt blockchain" to "how to build the next generation of financial infrastructure." BlackRock CEO Larry Fink advocates for a "common blockchain" as the settlement layer of the future global financial system, enabling atomic-level exchange of assets and funds.

In this ecosystem, stablecoins play a cornerstone role. According to CoinGecko data, as of February 2026, the total global market capitalization of stablecoins exceeded $235 billion. As the primary on-chain pricing and transaction medium, they provide RWA with the necessary liquidity pools and price stability. For example, multinational corporations are increasingly using compliant stablecoins such as USDC and EURC for trade settlements because they enable near-real-time, low-cost cross-border payments. On August 1, 2025, Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance officially came into effect, establishing an issuer licensing system and requiring all fiat-denominated stablecoins to maintain 100% high-quality reserve assets and undergo regular independent audits. This provides a foundation of trust for the institutional adoption of stablecoins.

Looking ahead, the scope of RWA will continue to expand, extending from income-generating assets such as private credit and real estate to new asset classes such as carbon credits, data assets, and energy contracts. A more profound impact may lie in the public sector: the Monetary Authority of Singapore's "Project Guardian" is testing the issuance and cross-border settlement of tokenized government bonds; some countries have begun exploring the tokenization of sovereign bonds and even some foreign exchange reserves to improve issuance efficiency and market transparency. This signifies that RWA is evolving from an enterprise-level efficiency tool to a sovereign-level financial infrastructure.

In mainland China, regulators maintain a strict stance on financial activities involving cryptocurrencies. However, "cryptocurrency-free blockchain" applications, such as optimizing supply chain finance and promoting the on-balance-sheet recording of data assets, are being actively explored. For example, several local governments are leading the establishment of blockchain-based supply chain finance platforms to help SMEs convert accounts receivable into divisible and transferable digital debt instruments, thereby improving the financing environment.

The reshaping of the global financial landscape has already begun. The driving force is no longer merely the enthusiasm of tech geeks or retail investors, but rather the systemic allocation of long-term institutional capital such as pension funds, insurance funds, and sovereign wealth funds. When trillions of dollars worth of traditional assets circulate on the blockchain in token form, it will change not only the speed of transactions but also the way capital is discovered, priced, and allocated globally. This silent revolution is rewriting the rules of the game in the financial world.