Tokenized Markets Diverge From Traditional Finance, Despite Rapid Growth

The tokenized market is growing rapidly, but it's not mirroring traditional finance. A recent report by Dune found that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) were worth $34.5 billion as of August 31, up over 140% year-over-year.

Cash-equivalent products still dominate the supply, while equities are the most actively traded segment - yet tokenized equities remain a tiny slice of the overall global listed-equity market. Binance Research puts the tokenized equity market at $4.43 billion as of September 15, representing just 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion global listed-equity market.

According to Ondo Finance's Armand Khatri, tokenization gives investors more direct control over asset selection by reducing dependence on local intermediaries' offerings. The investor decides which they want,' he said, referring to the ability to choose between single-company exposure and index exposure.