Normal Chartered projected that tokenization of real-world belongings (RWAs) past stablecoins may speed up considerably over the subsequent 5 years, pushed by regulatory progress and a sharper concentrate on high-impact use circumstances, based on a June 20 report shared with CryptoSlate.
The financial institution’s report, titled “RWA Tokenisation — A Progress Alternative,” highlighted that whereas stablecoins stay the dominant driver of blockchain-based RWAs, efforts to tokenize non-stablecoin belongings like personal credit score, securitized debt, personal fairness, and commodities have trailed behind at round $2 billion.
In accordance with the report, the hole stems largely from uneven rules and early initiatives concentrating on areas with restricted worth from blockchain adoption.
Focus shifting past stablecoins
Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital belongings analysis at Normal Chartered, defined that the business’s heavy reliance on stablecoins has overshadowed different tokenization prospects that might rework illiquid and hard-to-access markets.
Kendrick wrote:
“Non-stablecoin RWA tokenization has lagged for quite a lot of causes — regulatory uncertainty and concentrate on mistaken areas being amongst them. Nevertheless, as regulatory readability emerges and if tokenizers concentrate on the correct areas, then progress will come.”
The report singled out tokenized personal credit score as a notable early success, citing it as proof that blockchain can unlock actual worth by bettering liquidity for belongings historically thought-about troublesome to commerce.
It argued that the identical logic can lengthen to personal fairness and area of interest commodities markets, the place institutional buyers are actively searching for higher effectivity and transparency.
Regulatory patchwork persists
Regardless of the optimism, Normal Chartered cautioned that regulatory fragmentation stays an impediment. Jurisdictions resembling Singapore, Switzerland, the EU, and Jersey have developed clearer guidelines for RWAs, however others lag, whereas know-your-customer (KYC) checks proceed to complicate cross-border adoption.
The financial institution’s analysis referred to as for tokenization methods that emphasize “areas of differentiation from off-chain belongings” somewhat than replicating what already works effectively in conventional markets. By doing so, platforms and issuers may achieve traction even in unsure regulatory environments.
The report highlighted that tokenized personal credit score, structured debt, and company bonds have begun to increase steadily, with projections displaying an accelerated climb ranging from 2025.
It additional recommended that if business gamers leverage classes from personal credit score and construct strong compliance frameworks, non-stablecoin RWAs may emerge as the subsequent main wave within the digital asset sector.
