Need to know: Going institutional
The real-world asset (RWA) market is entering 2026 with clear signs of institutionalisation. On-chain RWA value has surpassed $21bn, driven by the repeat issuance of tokenised U.S. Treasuries, gold, and other cash-like instruments, rather than one-off pilots. At the same time, derivatives venues are expanding synthetic RWA exposure through perpetual futures, allowing traders and institutions to gain commodity, equity and macro exposure without directly holding tokenised assets.
The focus is also shifting to settlement and infrastructure upgrades. Same-day (T+0) settlement is increasingly framed as an “invisible upgrade” that could make tokenised securities economically compelling by freeing collateral, reducing counterparty risk and compressing post-trade costs. Deloitte’s 2026 outlook places tokenised securities and stablecoins at the centre of this transition. Taken together, the trend suggests tokenisation is moving beyond experimentation and toward selective, utility-driven deployment — where assets are tokenised not because they can be, but because doing so meaningfully improves liquidity, efficiency or access.
News in Brief
1. Tokenised Treasuries exceed $10bn. Circle’s USYC and BlackRock/Securitize’s BUIDL each sit near $1.7bn in assets, while Ondo’s USDY surged 16% week-on-week to roughly $1.5bn. Importantly, Ethena is now using BUIDL as backing for its USDtb stablecoin, tightening the link between tokenised government debt and on-chain money.
Why it matters: Treasuries are emerging as the system’s default on-chain cash equivalent, anchoring both yield and stablecoin credibility.
2. Tokenised equities near $1bn. Securitize plans to launch SEC-registered, natively tokenised public stocks in Q1 2026, moving beyond synthetic wrappers. Ondo Global Markets remains the largest issuer, while Kraken, following its acquisition of Backed Finance, is scaling tokenised equities on Solana with sub-second finality.
Why it matters: Public equities are beginning to migrate onto regulated on-chain rails, enabling faster settlement and potentially continuous trading.
3. Regulation and banks step in. MiCA is now enforceable across the EU, giving legal certainty to issuers and custodians, while Riyad Bank (Jeel) and Ripple are testing blockchain-based settlement through a Saudi regulatory sandbox.
Why it matters: Regulatory clarity and bank participation reduce execution risk for institutions considering live RWA deployment.
Deep Dive — Is 2026 the year tokenised assets go mainstream?
The Top Line?
After years of experimentation, tokenisation is becoming more selective: the assets most likely to scale are those in which on-chain representation delivers clear economic advantages, particularly in commodities and cash-like instruments.
The Details
At a recent Road to Consensus panel highlighted by CoinGeek, industry participants argued that tokenisation is no longer about novelty, but about fit. Tokenised gold already exists — via products such as Pax Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) — and functions reliably, offering physical backing, simplified custody and 24/7 transferability. Yet gold tokens haven’t triggered explosive growth because, for many investors, traditional gold markets already work reasonably well.
Attention is now shifting toward broader commodities, including silver, copper and industrial metals. Demand for these materials is being driven by AI infrastructure, electrification and energy transition projects — sectors where supply chains are fragmented, and financing is opaque. Tokenisation could improve price discovery, enable fractional access and reduce settlement friction in markets that remain largely bilateral and illiquid.
Crucially, commodities often face less regulatory ambiguity than tokenised securities. In many jurisdictions, they fall outside securities law, lowering issuance risk and accelerating time to market. That regulatory simplicity makes them attractive candidates for tokenisation at scale.
Asia was cited as a likely early growth region, due to a combination of large retail participation, commodity-heavy economies and increasingly sophisticated on-chain liquidity infrastructure. If even a small portion of large asset classes — such as global gold or industrial metals — migrates on-chain, tokenised assets could shift from niche products to mainstream financial rails.
The key question heading into 2026 is no longer whether assets can be tokenised, but whether tokenisation delivers measurable gains in liquidity, cost reduction or market access.
Further reading - 🔗 “Gold to Copper: Is 2026 the year tokenized assets go mainstream?”
