Tokenization alone does not make illiquid assets easier to trade, industry executives said at Paris Blockchain Week, pushing back on the notion that putting assets like private credit or real estate onchain will automatically create active secondary markets.
Speaking on a panel moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Ondo Finance’s EMEA sales director Oya Celiktemur said there remains a misconception that tokenization can inherently improve liquidity.
“There’s still this belief that tokenizing something illiquid will somehow magically make it liquid, which simply isn’t true,” Celiktemur said, noting that assets such as real estate and private credit have never been highly liquid to begin with.
Francesco Ranieri Fabracci, head of tokenization expansion at Tether, echoed the view, arguing that placing assets onchain does not guarantee liquidity. He added that only a limited range of instruments—such as bonds, money market funds and stablecoins—are likely to achieve consistent liquidity in tokenized markets.
The discussion comes as the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) sector continues to grow, with focus shifting from issuance to whether these products can generate meaningful trading activity beyond niche distribution channels.
Tokenized RWA market expands but remains concentrated
Data from RWA analytics platform RWA.xyz shows the tokenized real-world asset market grew from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to around $29.9 billion by April 16, 2026—more than tripling in size within a year.
This growth was largely driven by standardized, widely traded assets, with tokenized U.S. Treasury debt and commodities accounting for a significant share of the market.
In contrast, typically less liquid sectors remained relatively small despite strong percentage gains. Tokenized real estate rose from about $35 million to $296 million, while private equity increased from roughly $60 million to $223 million.
Other segments, including asset-backed credit and corporate credit, also saw strong growth in absolute terms, pointing to increased issuance across a wider range of instruments.
However, a rise in market value does not necessarily indicate improved liquidity. Total value can grow simply because more assets are being issued, even if secondary market trading activity remains limited.
