Author: Lily Z. King

"Every asset – every stock, every bond, every fund – can be tokenized, and this will bring about an investment revolution." This is a quote from Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. Larry Fink's vision of tokenizing everything not only depicts a technological possibility but also foreshadows a profound transformation in the financial field. The time, place, and occasion when Larry Fink said this are even more important than the quote itself. This statement appeared in BlackRock's annual letter to all investors on March 31 this year. However, in BlackRock's annual letter last year, terms like stablecoins, RWA, tokenization, and digital assets, which are the most popular words in the market this year, were not mentioned at all. The only thing related to digital assets was BTC's ETF. This year, BlackRock's annual letter is entirely devoted to advocating for the financial democratization that tokenization can bring.
Why are so many big names, including Larry Fink, choosing to discuss Real World Assets (RWA) at this moment? Some say it's because on-chain yields in DeFi are no longer good, so everyone is looking for returns from the real world. Some say it's because RWA is the only hot topic right now, and anyone who touches it will rise, whether it's coins or stocks. Others say there was also an RWA craze in 2017-2018, which was also called ICO, so this is just another trend. Some also say, why analyze so much? If you don't do RWA, you'll be out of a job soon! We may still need to understand the origins of this RWA trend in order to make the right choices in the next 6-12 months, allowing RWA to truly take off in Asia and gain a foothold in the subsequent globalization competition. The world is currently undergoing a huge shift in the macroeconomic landscape. For the first time in decades, we are in a world full of geopolitical uncertainty, trade wars and capital controls, and the fragmentation and even weaponization of the global financial system. Although the US dollar remains strong, countries are seeking to hedge against risks, and cross-border capital flows are being more strictly controlled. In this context, global capital will naturally look for faster, cheaper, and more open channels for liquidity. At the same time, digital asset-related policies are catching up. Both parties in the United States are promoting stablecoin and tokenization policy frameworks, and in Asia, tokenization is no longer a niche experiment - digital assets have risen to the level of national strategy. Finally, the technical support level is also gradually maturing. In the past 12 to 18 months, we have seen tremendous progress: transaction fees on Tron, Solana, Base, and various Layer 2 chains are almost zero, stablecoin on-chain transaction final confirmation times have reached sub-second levels, and the digital wallet user experience is rapidly improving - such as abstracting Gas fees, one-click approval, and institutional-grade banking experience custody services. So, why is Larry Fink mentioning RWA now? Not because the hype cycle has arrived, but because the world needs it more than ever before - it needs a way and a vision to efficiently, compliantly, and globally connect traditional finance to the finance of the future. In Larry Fink's view, Wall Street needs to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Simply put, Real World Assets (RWA) can make the market faster, more streamlined, and more global - without touching existing rules. Wall Street is not encrypting for the sake of encryption, but to improve the infrastructure of existing capital markets. First is the issue of efficiency. The settlement cycles of traditional finance such as bonds and private credit are slow and expensive, and the operating procedures are cumbersome. In contrast, after RWA is on-chain, it has achieved: Instant settlement - T+0, instead of T+2 or even longer. 24/7 all-weather liquidity - no closing hours, no time zone restrictions. Built-in auditability - the ledger is real-time and transparent. Large institutions have seen this potential for cost reduction and efficiency improvement and have taken rapid action. Large institutions including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have launched sizable tokenized treasury bonds on the blockchain, which can be settled on-chain and pay daily returns through smart contracts. These are no longer experimental products - they are new financial infrastructures that are in operation. Secondly, there is the issue of reach. Tokenized assets can reach investors that traditional channels cannot cover - especially emerging markets or non-traditional investor groups. For example: Tokenized treasury bonds launched by Ondo, Matrixdock, and Plume are being purchased by DAOs, cryptocurrency vaults, and stablecoin holders in Asia, Latin America, and Africa - the KYC of these groups is stable yields that traditional brokers may never be able to reach with highly creditworthy assets. Some real estate tokenization projects in the UAE and the United States have achieved fractional ownership and global distribution subject to compliance thresholds, which was simply not possible before tokenization. RWA not only reduces friction but also expands the market. Finally, there is programmability. This is where tokenized assets are fundamentally more powerful, allowing commercial logic to be embedded in the assets themselves: Compliant transfer rules Embedded yield payment Automatic rebalancing Even embedded governance rights Cantor Fitzgerald (the current U.S. Secretary of Commerce used to be its CEO, and the company has extremely deep ties with Tether) recently partnered with Maple Finance to launch a $2 billion Bitcoin-backed credit arrangement - they are using smart contracts to automate parts of the loan structure and risk monitoring. This heralds the beginning of a larger transformation: financial products are not only digitized but also intelligent - they can be traded globally, designed with built-in compliance, and can be instantly integrated into any digital investment portfolio.

RWA is in full swing, and the specific figures in the market can tell us whether RWA is still stuck in marginal experiments or is already trending towards the mainstream. As of June 9, the total value of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) on public blockchains has reached nearly $23.4 billion. This is only part of what can be tracked, and on-chain asset products include U.S. Treasury bonds, corporate credit, real estate, various funds, and even commodities. The $23.4 billion accounts for about 10% of the size of stablecoins, 0.7% of the entire Crypto market, and ranks 10th or 11th in terms of market capitalization among all tokens. Further analysis of the data can lead to several observations: Private credit exceeds the size of Treasury bonds The core product of the largest Figure, $12 billion (home equity lines of credit, investor mortgages, cash-out refi), from the birth of the loan to the inter-institutional transfer, uses the Provenance blockchain (Cosmos) to "move" institutional-grade home loans to the chain and complete the transfer and settlement of ownership/yield rights on the chain. Each loan will be minted into a digital eNote and registered in the digital asset registration system to replace MERS registration and manual custody verification, obtain an on-chain identity, and can be sold, pledged, or securitized instantly. 90-95% of Figure's existing loans - already exist in the form of on-chain eNotes. This process eliminates paper notes, MERS registration fees, and manual custody verification, reducing friction costs by more than 100 basis points per loan and shortening the time to funds arrival from weeks to days. Securitize has partnered with Drift Protocol to bring Apollo's $1 billion diversified credit fund on-chain. To date, Maple Finance has issued more than $2.5 billion in tokenized loans. Centrifuge is providing support for real-world credit pools for DeFi protocols such as Aave and Maker.
Tokenized Treasury bonds are becoming a trend BlackRock's BUIDL Fund: with a total AUM of US$2.9 billion, it is currently leading the way. Ondo has a scale of US$1.3 billion, and Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund has a tokenized scale of approximately US$775 million. Matrixdock and Superstate have pushed the size of this category to more than $7 billion. These are not crypto-native experiments, but mainstream financial institutions using blockchain as infrastructure to settle and distribute government bonds. Commodity futures-type tokens are an earlier attempt than treasury bond-type tokenization and have certain first-mover advantages.
Fund-type RWA, including real estate funds, is gaining strong momentum. In the UAE, MAG Group (one of the largest developers in Dubai), MultiBank (the largest financial derivatives trader), and Mavryk (a blockchain technology company) announced a $3 billion partnership to put luxury properties on the chain. Platforms such as RealT and Parcl in the United States are allowing retail investors to purchase fractional shares of income-generating properties - with the income distributed directly to wallets. These asset tokens are income-generating, tradable, and legally enforceable assets, which are particularly attractive in today's market environment - they generate income, have low volatility, and are now accessible to stablecoin holders, DAOs, and finance companies' treasurers. Based on the above analysis, we believe that tokenized RWA is no longer just a concept - it is already a market: real assets, real issuers, real returns, and these numbers are growing at a compound rate.
Let's take a look at some specific and real RWA project cases, especially the RWA practices in Hong Kong and Asia: five representative RWA projects, covering different stages and models from traditional banks to technology companies, from gold to new energy, and from pilot projects to formal operations. 1. HSBC Gold Token This is a typical case of traditional banks entering the RWA field Key insight: HSBC chose a private chain, focusing on retail customers and avoiding complex secondary markets Strategic significance: Banks are more concerned about compliance and risk control than maximizing liquidity Explaining the problem: Traditional financial institutions may first choose a closed ecosystem when testing the waters 2. Langxin Group × Ant Digital Technology (new energy charging piles) This represents China's RWA exploration in the field of "new infrastructure" The financing scale of RMB 100 million proves the institutional recognition of physical asset tokenization Key point: Still in the sandbox stage, indicating that regulators are cautiously advancing Investor composition: Domestic and foreign institutions + family offices, showing the interest of cross-border capital 3. GCL Energy Photovoltaic Power Station RWA Larger scale: Over RMB 200 million, showing the attractiveness of green energy assets ESG concept: Green electricity assets are in line with the global ESG investment trend Circulation design: Still in the design stage, indicating that the tokenization of complex assets requires more technological and legal innovation 4. UBS × OSL Tokenized Warrants Pilot project of an international bank: UBS's participation as a Swiss banking giant is of great significance B2B model: Targeted issuance to OSL, focusing on process verification rather than scale Technical verification: The focus is on proving the technical feasibility of tokenized warrants 5. China Asset Management Hong Kong Digital Currency Fund The most transparent case: Data is fully verifiable on the Ethereum public chain Retail-oriented: 800 address holders, truly targeting ordinary investors Compliance balance: Balancing KYC requirements with on-chain transparency From the above five projects, a few keywords can be simply extracted: private chain, institutional and targeted retail, pilot project non-scale. These projects cover different backgrounds in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and internationally, presenting a diverse landscape. Specifically, Hong Kong is relatively open and supports innovation; mainland projects are cautiously advancing and piloting in sandboxes; internationally: large banks are actively testing the waters. The real challenge for the current project is the liquidity challenge: most projects face insufficient secondary market liquidity, which is also the current "bottleneck" of RWA. Compared with the projects in Hong Kong, which are still in the experimental stage, let's observe the five leading RWA projects currently operating on a large scale in the global market, which represent the current best practices. 1. BUIDL - BlackRock's trump card product Leading scale: US$2.9 billion, leading the way in all tokenized treasury bond products Institution-oriented: Only 75 holding addresses, but monthly trading volume is as high as US$620 million Key insight: The average holding of nearly US$40 million per address proves the huge demand from institutional investors Strategic significance: BlackRock chose the route of quality rather than quantity, focusing on serving large institutions 2. BENJI - Franklin Templeton's retail experiment The most interesting data: 577 address holders, but the 30-day trading volume is only US$20 Retail-oriented: This is a product truly targeting ordinary investors Liquidity challenge: There is almost no secondary transaction, indicating that holders are more likely to "buy and hold", and it is also possible that the holders are not unfamiliar ordinary people, but may be the most familiar ordinary people. Market insight: Retail investors may be more concerned about returns than liquidity 3. OUSG - Ondo Finance's institutional product Balance strategy: US$690 million in scale, 70 addresses, US$14 million in trading volume Institutional efficiency: Although the scale is not as good as BUIDL, the trading activity is relatively high Clear positioning: Focusing on U.S. qualified investors, avoiding the complexity of retail regulation 4. USTB - Compliance-driven product Moderate scale: US$640 million, 67 addresses High trading activity: US$63 million in 30-day trading volume shows good liquidity Dual compliance: Targeting U.S. accredited&qualified investors, the most stringent compliance requirements 5. USDY - Globalization breakthrough The biggest discovery: 15,487 addresses! This is a truly "popularized" product Global strategy: Specifically serving non-U.S. investors, avoiding the complexity of U.S. regulation Popularized investment: The average holding per address is only about US$40,000, truly realizing inclusive finance Through the analysis of international projects, several core insights and trends can be drawn: the type of investor determines the product design. Institutional-oriented products generally have only a few large holders, high unit prices, and low-frequency transactions; retail-oriented products have mostly retail holders, small unit prices, and mainly holding; while global-oriented products focus on avoiding regulatory complexity through regional differentiation. Comprehensive Hong Kong and international RWA projects, we can draw the following observations: No one model is suitable for all markets: institutional and retail markets require completely different product designs; Regulation is the biggest watershed: the product performance of U.S. and non-U.S. investors is very different, and U.S. professional investors have obvious advantages in terms of liquidity; Liquidity is still a challenge: even the most successful products do not have high secondary market activity; Key to scale: either go deep (large institutional amounts) or go wide (retail popularization). These data and analysis reveal an important reality to us: successful RWA products need to find their own liquidity and unique product-market fit. RWA tokenization is easy, but distribution is difficult. Anyone can mint a token to represent a piece of real estate or a U.S. Treasury bond. How to deliver these tokens to the right buyers on a large scale, compliantly, and continuously - that is the real challenge. In addition to the leading RWA projects we saw before, there are actually dozens of tokenized treasury bond products on the chain, many of which offer considerable returns, but most of them have less than a few million dollars in assets under management (AUM). Why? Because they are not integrated into DeFi protocols, they are not listed on regulated exchanges, and institutional buyers cannot easily obtain them without customized docking processes. The value of a tokenized asset depends directly on the ease with which it can be exited. Currently, except for a few pools such as Maple or Centrifuge, RWA secondary market liquidity is very weak. One reason is that RWA does not yet have a Nasdaq or even a decent bond market. This also leads to price opacity, which limits institutional participation. Finally, the fragmented regulation of RWA remains a major obstacle. Each jurisdiction has different views on whether tokens are securities, how to custody them, and who can hold them. This is slowing down the cross-border scaling process of RWA, which is particularly slow in Asia. Therefore, we see that the asset quality of RWA is improving and the infrastructure is becoming stronger, but the "last mile" has not yet been opened up: how to match tokenized assets with suitable funds, establish liquidity, and make RWA truly work. This is the challenge currently facing the RAW industry, and it is also the biggest opportunity.

To solve this liquidity problem, the real breakthrough is not just better infrastructure, but product-market fit. This is not just about putting old traditional assets on new blockchain tracks, but the core question is: who really needs this asset? If this asset becomes easier to obtain, what new markets can it serve? If U.S. stocks trade 24x7, and if more and more brokers can buy and sell digital assets, will there still be demand for tokenized ETFs and U.S. stock trading? Tokenization can do two very powerful things: one is to find new demand for existing assets that are stagnant in traditional markets, and the other is to create completely new investable assets and deliver them in new ways to investors who have never been able to participate before. Re-stimulate demand: The current popular RWA U.S. Treasury bonds are actually such a case. In traditional financial markets, the U.S. Treasury bond market is becoming crowded and its attractiveness has declined. However, in the crypto world and emerging markets, they have gained new opportunities: on-chain stablecoin issuers are using tokenized Treasury bills to obtain on-chain yields. Blockchain platforms designed specifically for RWA have been directly selling U.S. Treasury bonds to retail investors in Africa, allowing these retail investors to obtain dollar-denominated, yield-bearing assets that local banks have never provided. In this case, tokenization is not just about digitizing assets - it also matches assets with a global, underserved audience that is hungry for security and yield. Innovate new investable assets: When tokenization creates new assets, this is a more exciting opportunity. Case 1: Take luxury real estate in Dubai as an example. The rise in Dubai real estate in the past few years has impressed many overseas investors. However, how many investors can truly enter this market? First, do investors have to fly to Dubai? Second, you need a reliable real estate agent. But sorry, they don't show up during the day. Traditionally, this market is closed - opaque, high barriers to entry, and difficult for foreigners to enter. Now, through tokenization, projects like the $3 billion MAG project are opening up fractional ownership of high-end properties to global buyers - with compliance, yield, and liquidity paths. In this model, is it possible that the scene of Shanghai people sweeping Japanese houses after the epidemic will reappear in this Dubai project? Here we see that the tokenization of new assets is not just financial inclusion - it is market expansion. Case 2: Commodities such as uranium. Most retail investors have never been exposed to uranium - it is too complex, too restrictive, and too niche. However, through the new tokenization tool "digital uranium," investors can now directly invest in this key resource that powers the global nuclear energy transition. A brand new asset - delivered to a brand new audience - becomes investable through tokenization. Case 3: Stocks are also being re-combined. When the crypto market is depressed, tokenized Magnificent Seven ETFs bring traders seeking real-world yields and no need to exit cryptocurrencies. In other words, tokenization allows assets to follow the money, not the other way around. Case 4: Private credit. Tightening spreads in traditional financial markets have left lenders on the sidelines. Platforms like Maple and Goldfinch are using tokenization to fund small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans in underserved banking regions, while allowing global DeFi users to earn returns from real-world cash flows. So, the bigger picture of RWA should be this: tokenization is not just about packaging old financial instruments, it is about redefining what can become an asset - and handing it over to those who value it most. This is what "product-market fit" looks like in the on-chain era: global demand meets global accessibility, new assets meet new liquidity, and finding the product-market fit in the middle. These new audiences - including institutional investors, the financial departments of financial technology companies, and crypto-native investors - actually span two fields. Some are in traditional finance, and others are native to DeFi. The only way for RWA to truly achieve large-scale development is to build a bridge between the two. It can be understood this way: traditional finance (TradFi) brings assets - including credibility, compliance, and scale; decentralized finance (DeFi) brings distribution - 24/7 all-weather access, smart contract automation, and global liquidity. The opportunity lies in how to connect the two safely, compliantly, and programmably. This is not just talk on paper, but it is happening: Ondo Finance brings BlackRock's tokenized Treasury bonds on the chain and connects it to DeFi vaults; Centrifuge transforms off-chain credit into on-chain assets for protocols such as MakerDAO and Aave; Maple and Goldfinch enable institutional lenders to obtain global yield-seeking funds through DeFi channels. These examples show what kind of sparks can be generated when traditional financial assets meet DeFi liquidity. Understanding the trend opportunities, confirming the direction, what we need is to obtain the right tools to participate in this RWA grand occasion. This is where Cobo comes into play: Cobo provides end-to-end infrastructure for tokenized assets. Whether it is an asset issuer, a fund, or a securities company, Cobo can help you safely and compliantly bring real-world assets on the chain.Specifically, we do this: ️ Tokenization as a Service We help you connect various assets such as Treasury bonds, credit, and real estate to the platform and package them through smart contracts. You can choose the chain, compliance framework, and access permissions. We are responsible for technology, legal structure, and full life cycle management. Institutional-grade custody Cobo is a qualified custodian regulated by regulatory authorities. Our MPC (multi-party computation) wallet technology stack provides you with security, automation, and complete control - no mnemonic phrase required, eliminating single points of failure. We support whitelisted transfers, time-locked vaults, and multi-signature governance - all the security features you need to ensure that tokenized assets are foolproof. DeFi integration We not only package your assets, but we also provide you with tools for distribution and interaction tools. Whether you want to connect to Aave, provide staking services, or build a liquidity pool - we can distribute and interact with the infrastructure required by institutional wallets, such as Web3 wallets and MPC wallets that can directly interact with the blockchain. Cobo can be imagined as the middleware layer between traditional assets and on-chain liquidity. From asset access to custody, from compliance management to role-based authorization to interaction with the blockchain in a risk-controlled environment, Cobo is your infrastructure partner to help you build and expand your business in this new market. Our RWA Engine can serve all stablecoin issuers, asset managers, and exchanges and exchange-like institutions.
Cobo Tokenization Engine is the core technology engine we built for the RWA era. Instead of simply providing a single tool, we have built two complete end-to-end solutions that cover the two most important tracks in the tokenization field.

On the left: Stablecoin issuance and full life cycle management In our contact with customers, we have found that many institutions want to issue their own branded stablecoins, but face three major challenges: High technical threshold: smart contract development, multi-chain deployment Compliance complexity: regulatory requirements of different jurisdictions Operational difficulties: reserve management, liquidity allocation Cobo's solution We provide not only technical tools, but also a complete ecosystem: Compliant issuance: help customers issue branded stablecoins in compliance with local regulatory requirements Multi-chain deployment: one set of system supports multiple mainstream blockchains such as Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon Comprehensive toolkit: Reserve asset management: real-time monitoring, automated reporting Mint/destroy control: precise supply management On-chain liquidity allocation: deep integration with mainstream DEX and CEX Application scenario display Cross-border settlement: enterprises can issue their own stablecoins for international trade settlement Internal enterprise payment: large groups can use it for internal transfers and employee compensation On the right: RWA on-chain issuance and management The data we just saw - BUIDL's US$29 billion and China Asset Management's US$120 million - all prove the huge potential of the RWA market. However, to truly scale, what is needed is industrial-grade infrastructure. What we provide to RWA issuers is a true "move-in ready" solution: Smart contract deployment: audited, modular contract templates Whitelist access control: precise permission management to meet different regulatory requirements Custody integration: seamless integration with our custody, MPC wallet, and Hong Kong trust companyHere is a display of the real user interface and operation process of our tokenization platform. Step 1: Product Review This is the first interface users see. • Clear three-step process: define token&deploy contract, configure permissions&policy, start&operate token • No technical threshold commitment: the interface clearly states "no technical knowledge required" • One-click start: reduce the user's usage threshold Step 2: Token Configuration This shows the actual configuration interface: • Blockchain selection: users can choose different blockchains such as Ethereum mainnet • Token basic information: necessary information such as name and symbol • Security settings: MPC wallet integration to ensure asset security • Custom settings: meet the personalized needs of different customers Step 3: Confirm & Deploy This is the key confirmation link: • Information verification: all parameters are clear at a glance • Cost transparency: clearly display the deployment fee (US$0.99) • MPC wallet display: shows our core security technology • Final confirmation: give users the final opportunity to check Step 4: Token Management This is the management interface after deployment: • Multi-token management: support simultaneous management of multiple token projects • Status monitoring: different statuses such as Success, Processing, and Failed are clearly displayed • Rich functions: complete functions such as minting, destroying, permission management, and contract suspension • Detailed data: key information such as total supply, personal holdings, and contract address Today we discussed a lot of content - from market trends to technical architecture, from specific cases to product demonstrations. But I want to summarize today's core points in one paragraph: The first sentence: The inevitability of reality - the irreversibility of tokenization; The second sentence: The essence of motivation - RWA is not because blockchain is cool or tokenization is fashionable. But because of the limitations of the traditional financial system - geographical boundaries, time constraints, high costs, and complex processes - these problems must be solved; The third sentence: The call to action. Asset parties need to bring high-quality real-world assets; technology parties need to provide reliable infrastructure (this is our role); investors: provide liquidity and trust; regulators: provide a compliant framework. This window will not be open forever. Early participants will receive the greatest benefits - not only economic benefits, but also the opportunity to shape the financial system of the future.

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