Tokenization Market Hits $37B, Ownership Records Take Center Stage

The tokenization market has seen explosive growth in recent years, reaching $37.29 billion in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on public blockchains as of August 3, excluding stablecoins.

Treasury and money-market products accounted for 43% of this total, with commodities at $4.60 billion and equities and ETFs at $2.16 billion.

Regulators are beginning to draw firmer lines, dividing tokenized securities into issuer-sponsored products and third-party-created versions. Issuer-sponsored tokens are integrated directly into the master securityholder file, allowing on-chain transfers that update the official register.

Eva Meng of Matrixdock emphasizes that ownership begins with settlement, citing a case where a holder burned 32.148 XAUm tokens to receive a one-kilogram LBMA gold bar within T+3 of the redemption request.