The results of a Q4 2025 survey conducted by tokenization platform Brickken reveal a significant shift in the Real World Assets (RWA) sector. The data indicates that a majority of issuers are leveraging blockchain technology primarily for capital formation, pushing the promise of immediate secondary market liquidity into the background.
According to the report, 53.8% of respondents stated their main incentive for tokenizing assets was to improve efficiency in capital formation and fundraising. In stark contrast, only 15.4% of participants considered access to secondary market liquidity as their primary motivation. This suggests tokenization is increasingly viewed as a robust infrastructure tool for operational optimization and attracting new investors, rather than a direct path to trading.
The survey, which included issuers from technology (31.6%), entertainment (15.8%), and private credit (15.8%) sectors, found that 69.2% of respondents have already completed the tokenization process and are live. While liquidity is not a current priority for many, expectations are evolving: 46.2% anticipate needing liquidity access within six to twelve months.
Regulatory compliance remains the single biggest obstacle for the industry, with 84.6% of companies reporting operational delays due to complex regulations. Only 13% identified technology or development issues as their main challenge.
The asset landscape is also diversifying. While early tokenization was dominated by real estate, the current mix shows 28.6% of tokenized or planned assets are equity or shares, followed by intellectual property and entertainment assets at 17.9%. This signals a broadening of tokenization into corporate finance and creative industries.
Brickken's Chief Marketing Officer, Jordi Esturi, commented that tokenization is moving beyond a "buzzword" and becoming a core financial infrastructure layer for accessing capital. This shift coincides with explorations by traditional exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq into 24/7 trading models for tokenized assets, which could eventually bridge primary capital formation with more robust secondary markets.
