The digital rights sector is rapidly gaining momentum: by November 2026, the capitalization of tokenized assets reached approximately $40 billion. Major investment institutions and commercial banks are already forming sustained demand for these financial technologies. However, when working with alternative instruments, a fundamental barrier arises — the issuance of a digital token itself does not guarantee interest from buyers.
At the TOKEN2049 industry conference, top executives from infrastructure platforms R3, T-RIZE, and XDC Network examined this problem for the traditional market in detail and identified the key points of tension.
Wall Street's future clients are already on the blockchain
For many years, banks relied on existing financial networks to distribute investment products. Tokenization opens a new path: delivering offerings to a broad audience through blockchain-based platforms. The commercial interest here is obvious — the only question is how banks and other players can earn from it.
Banks could sell tokenized funds and other instruments to new clients without having to build a separate distribution network. But there is a basic obstacle for traditional finance: banks usually prefer private networks, where access is easier to control and confidential transactions are easier to protect. The problem arises if the desired audience is looking for solutions outside these networks.
If an asset is isolated in a private network, and there are no clients nearby and no transactions take place, the network can be as closed as one likes — but there will be no one in it. The key task is to preserve the regulation that financial institutions need while still reaching the audience that works with blockchain.
Why an investor needs a reason to buy tokenized assets
Moving traditional assets onto the blockchain by itself solves only part of the distribution problem. A purchase requires a clear product, attractive yield, and confidence that the investment can be recovered. First, it is necessary to understand the client's objectives precisely: raise capital, launch a new investment instrument, or integrate with existing infrastructure — and only then help them reach liquidity.
The real estate market's experience is instructive: property can be split into small digital investment tokens, which theoretically lowers the threshold for retail investors. But it is difficult for buyers to evaluate the property itself and determine a fair price — attractive yield does not always mean an easy search for a market price.
More standardized instruments — for example, private-sector loans and tokenized funds — are easier to place. For Wall Street, the lesson is familiar: investors look at the quality of the asset and its liquidity, and blockchain technology alone does not solve these issues.
A $2.5 trillion market requires real money
The stakes go far beyond portfolio management. By 2025, businesses faced a trade finance gap of $2.5 trillion. A small exporter may need financing for literally two or three days until it receives payment for a shipment. Tokenization will turn the invoice for such a transaction into an investment asset that investors around the world can finance — but before that, the investment must still pass basic due diligence: what is the compliance position, how reliable is the project, what is included in the delivery.
These questions show the limits of technology. The blockchain will record the fact of the transaction, but investors will still have to assess the risks themselves. Even if funds have been raised, the problem of secondary-market liquidity for illiquid assets remains: an investor who expected to hold the asset for a year may find themselves needing to sell it after six months, and without another buyer, the token will not provide an automatic exit from the position.
Regulators are increasingly paying attention to this uncertainty. The Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Gabriel Makhlouf, warned that the benefits for investors, the commercial viability, and the resilience of tokenized finance are not yet obvious. Wall Street issues financial products, blockchain networks lead to them by another path — and the main question is whether investors are ready to put in real money.
Cryptalist analysis: The tokenization market has entered a phase where technological infrastructure is ahead of real demand: a capitalization of $40 billion reflects institutional interest but does not solve the problem of secondary liquidity and pricing of non-standard assets. The sector's sustainable growth will be determined not by the number of tokens issued, but by the platforms' ability to ensure compliance, transparent risk assessment, and exit from positions. Until these conditions are met, a significant portion of tokenized instruments will remain "paper" liquidity.