The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced plans to host a conference on payments innovation and tokenization, marking another major development in a landmark week for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board revealed that the event will take place on Oct. 21 and will bring together industry leaders to explore “how to further innovate and improve the payments system.”
According to the Fed, panel discussions will cover a range of topics, including the tokenization of financial products and services, the convergence of traditional finance and DeFi, emerging stablecoin applications, new business models, and the role of artificial intelligence in payments.
“I look forward to examining the opportunities and challenges of new technologies, bringing together ideas on how to improve the safety and efficiency of payments, and hearing from those helping to shape the future of payments,” said Fed Governor Christopher Waller.
The renewed focus on tokenization comes amid rising Wall Street interest, following July’s passage of key stablecoin legislation and a surge in onchain value for tokenized assets.
RWA value hits record high
Tokenized RWAs have reached a record onchain value of $27.8 billion, according to RWA.xyz — a 223% increase since the start of the year. The majority of this growth has been driven by tokenized private credit and U.S. Treasury debt.
Ethereum continues to dominate as the leading blockchain for asset tokenization, holding a 56% market share when including stablecoins — a figure that rises to over 77% when factoring in layer-2 networks.
Ondo Finance rolls out tokenized U.S. stock platform
In another major development this week, tokenization platform Ondo Finance, in partnership with crypto oracle provider Chainlink, launched its Ondo Global Markets platform — described as “Wall Street 2.0.”
The platform brings more than 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) onchain.
Ondo confirmed on Wednesday that the service, first unveiled in February, is now live on Ethereum and available to non-U.S. investors.
