Brickken is pushing the boundaries of real-world asset tokenization with a new standard: the Universal RWA Interface (uRWA). The company’s co-founder and OpenZeppelin senior security researcher, Dario Lo Buglio, introduced the framework to address the shortcomings of existing protocols with a more modular and compliance-ready approach.
With institutions entering the space and the market projected to hit $16 trillion by 2030 (BCG), compliance remains a major hurdle. Through EIP-7493 — the proposed Ethereum standard behind uRWA — Dario aims to bridge the gap between on-chain finance and regulatory frameworks. In this interview, he shares the vision, innovations, and future of compliant tokenization.
Can you share your journey into Web3?
I entered the Web3 space when I was at university, sometime between 2012 and 2015. Back then, Ethereum didn’t even exist—it was all about mining cryptocurrencies. That was the first time I heard about Bitcoin and everything around it. Eventually, in 2015, I moved to Spain. I’m originally from Italy, but I’m now living in Spain.
When Ethereum came out in 2015, I became more interested in the development side of things—the infrastructure around blockchain. Later, I joined OpenZeppelin as an auditor and security researcher. Over time, I also became a co-founder of Brickken. I started by building a small proof-of-concept, a small application focused on blockchain auditing and security. From there, ideas started flowing, and that eventually led to co-founding Brickken.
Why are regulators and institutions increasingly interested in RWA tokenization now?
We’ve actually been waiting for them to enter space for a few years. The infrastructure was being built, but they weren’t coming. Now, however, we’re seeing them actively reaching out to blockchain and tokenization companies.
As to why they’re interested, it’s quite clear from a technical standpoint. Tokenizing RWAs increases market efficiency and liquidity. These assets are usually illiquid, and blockchain offers a way to make them faster, more efficient, and even transparent if necessary. The global nature of blockchain also simplifies settlement and connectivity.
Beyond that, I think the space is finally mature enough to handle RWAs on-chain in a way that meets institutional expectations.
What are the biggest barriers to mass adoption of RWAs on the blockchain?
There are a few. First, security concerns. The blockchain space has unfortunately seen many major hacks, which probably explains why institutions took so long to engage. However, security has improved a lot over time.
Second, there’s a lack of standardization. No one wants to create a tokenized asset that will become obsolete or incompatible within a year or two. For RWAs to be useful, they need to work within the broader DeFi ecosystem—whether it’s for collateralized loans, swaps, or other financial flows.
And then there’s regulation. It’s taken time for governments and bureaucracies to understand the nuances of the blockchain space and RWAs. There was a lot of confusion about what qualifies as a security. Now, we’re starting to see clearer distinctions between debt, bonds, equities, and other financial instruments. The legal framework is slowly catching up, and that’s encouraging institutions to get involved.
What are the key differences between the uRWA standard and existing token standards like ERC-20 or ERC-721?
ERC-20 and ERC-721 were designed a long time ago to represent fungible and non-fungible assets on-chain. ERC-20, for instance, was proposed by Vitalik Buterin himself. The key difference with RWAs is that they must comply with real-world regulations and enforce legal rules—something that isn’t native to blockchain’s original, decentralized philosophy.
uRWA addresses this by providing a standardized approach that incorporates compliance and enforceability, while still being compatible with ERC-20 and ERC-721. That’s crucial because most of DeFi relies on those standards. uRWA simply adds extra layers for compliance and governance.
Which companies or institutions have already shown interest in adopting uRWA?
Specifically, the Universal RWA standard is still quite new. So not many yet. However, Brickken is already preparing a major release of their product that incorporates it.
The goal is to invite the big RWA players to give feedback and contribute. Standards should be an open discussion, and everyone is welcome to join, share their views, and help shape something that everyone can adopt.
Could uRWA become the industry standard for RWA tokenization?
I believe so. The standard is quite agnostic regarding specific implementations, which gives developers a lot of freedom and flexibility. That makes it highly compatible and adaptable for different use cases. With a single interface, you can cover a broad range of applications and integrate with other products more easily.
In what ways could uRWA accelerate mainstream adoption of tokenized real estate and private equity?
It does so primarily through its emphasis on compliance and transparency—two of the most important requirements in sectors like real estate and private equity. Real estate, in particular, benefits greatly from better transparency and operational efficiency.
Even though not every investor wants full transparency, the framework allows for those dynamics to be tailored depending on the use case, making adoption more practical and scalable.
What potential does uRWA have for sectors like real estate, private equity, or even lending?
There’s huge potential. Everyone’s working on the challenge of bringing illiquid real-world assets on-chain and making them liquid. If you can successfully price those assets and tokenize them, you open the door to using them as collateral for loans.
Currently, on-chain lending mostly relies on over-collateralized crypto. That’s not ideal—it limits the full potential of lending. With RWAs and proper standards like uRWA, we could see an entirely new segment of the market open up: lending collateralized by real-world assets.
How does uRWA specifically address compliance challenges that previous standards couldn’t?
Previous standards either tried to offer a one-size-fits-all approach or only covered a tiny part of the compliance spectrum. uRWA provides high-level rules along with the flexibility to implement them in different ways. It includes key functionalities like asset freezing and confiscation.
For instance, the freeze function allows for locking assets under certain conditions, like initial share agreements or court orders. The forced transfer function allows for recovering assets from wallets in cases of theft or legal violations.
Then there are two optional but important functions for integrators: one that checks if a transfer is allowed under specific rules, and one that verifies whether a user is eligible to interact with the asset, like having passed KYC. These tools provide integrators with the means to ensure that compliance is respected at every step.
It’s all open-source and available in the Ethereum repository, complete with a reference implementation.
How do you see the RWA tokenization industry evolving in the next couple of years?
I’m quite optimistic. At Brickken, we’ve been watching the market closely for several years, and over the past year, we’ve seen a real explosion of interest from stakeholders who had been silent for a long time.
On the regulatory side, things are progressing too. For example, Italy recently allowed securities to be issued via blockchain—a huge step forward. Governments are getting more involved, and that’s creating a very positive momentum.
Blockchain always accelerates when there’s a new wave—ICOs, NFTs, and now RWAs. I think we’re on the cusp of the next big wave.
The post How uRWA Could Bridge Blockchain and Global Regulation appeared first on Metaverse Post.
