Bitfinex Securities has published an analysis arguing that the dominant asset tokenization narrative solves only half of the problem. While the usual pitch focuses on retail investors gaining fractional access to large companies from anywhere, the platform says the more urgent challenge is the reverse: connecting small and medium-sized enterprises that lack access to capital markets with a global investor base.
The real-world tokenized asset market, excluding stablecoins, is approaching $40 billion, with projections placing it in the trillions by 2030. Bitfinex Securities crossed $500 million in listed assets in September 2026, covering private credit, Treasury bonds, commodities, fixed income, and public and private equity. Paolo Ardoino, Bitfinex chief technology officer, called tokenization “a fancy way of saying we updated the transport layer for the same assets.” He said the platform already offers 0% maker and taker fees, settlement in seconds, and issuance timelines of about 20 business days, compared with months through traditional channels.
Ardoino framed the structural gap through the example of an SME in a remote location that can only turn to its local bank, with no competition and no ability to negotiate the price of a loan. A global debt and equity market for small businesses would change that equation, he argued. Meanwhile, liquidity concentrates around a handful of private names such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic. Bitfinex Securities operates within the fintech lab of the Astana International Financial Centre, applied in September 2025 to become a full authorized investment exchange, and received El Salvador’s first license under the Digital Asset Issuance Law in April 2023. Its derivatives arm obtained a license in January 2025 and the spot exchange in May 2026. Drawing a parallel with Tether, Ardoino noted that USDT took six years to reach meaningful scale outside the traditional financial system, and that Tether’s competitive advantage was built through fieldwork, effort, and persistence. Ardoino added that the industry should reduce issuance and capital raising costs by 80% over five years; average traditional fees are around 7%, while the platform currently charges 4%.
UK research is adding momentum to that view. Lloyds Bank published a study citing that 71% of the UK’s largest financial institutions expect tokenization to reshape financial services, based on a survey of 100 senior decision-makers across banks, insurers, financial sponsors, and asset and wealth managers. Richard Baker, founder and CEO of Tokenovate, said tokenization has moved from discussion to reality, stressing that faster settlement and better collateral mobility affect how much liquidity firms need to hold, how quickly they can redeploy capital and how much operational risk sits between trade execution and final settlement. Marius Jurgilas, CEO of Axiology, said regulated tokenized securities can support a more connected market structure by bringing issuance, distribution, trading and settlement onto cross-border infrastructure.
In another sign of institutional momentum, OKX and ICE, parent company of the NYSE, announced the creation of a Tokenized Securities Venue intended to facilitate 24/7 trading of listed securities, starting with major global equities. Together, the announcements point to tokenization accelerating as regulatory and market infrastructure matures.
