Tokenization of real-world assets is moving from experimentation toward infrastructure, but institutional adoption now depends on clearer settlement, collateral and legal ownership rules, according to commentary published on 14 October 2026.
Brikken CEO Edwin Mata said the tokenization movement has entered a more demanding phase. Regulators are reviewing whether tokenized assets can act as collateral, settle reliably, and keep legal protections under market stress. Mata pointed to the European Securities and Markets Authority’s consultation on tokenized collateral in European clearing markets, which includes 30 questions covering settlement, ownership rights, client protections and liquidity risks. EU finance ministers have advanced proposals to strengthen supervision and expand the DLT Pilot Regime, while Singapore’s central bank has outlined its approach to settling tokenized securities using digital money. The IMF has also examined financial stability implications.
Mata stressed that collateral management could become one of the clearest measures of institutional confidence in tokenised assets. Clearing institutions need to know that collateral can be accessed, transferred and liquidated when a counterparty defaults, regardless of the technology used. A central concern is the distinction between technical control and legal ownership: a token may sit in a segregated wallet, but institutions still need enforceable rights over the underlying asset, especially if tokenized records and traditional ownership registers diverge or assets must be recovered in insolvency.
The Council of the European Union has agreed to proposals giving ESMA greater authority over trading, depositories and clearing. The package includes expansion of the DLT Pilot and allowing participants to serve multiple markets under a single license. The Council also wants to move approximately €10 trillion in European savings from low-yield accounts into investment markets. Mata said reforms could reduce regulatory fragmentation, though the final impact depends on whether cross-border issuance, distribution and asset servicing become easier for institutions.
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore plans to enable digital settlement through tokenized deposits, stablecoins and central bank digital currency, including wholesale CBDC settlement following its 2025 test with several banks. MAS has raised concerns about stablecoins maintaining value during market stress, particularly in large wholesale transactions, which may influence which settlement assets institutions accept.
The IMF’s analysis highlights how automated transactions could affect liquidity during market stress. If several entities use similar systems to adjust collateral, valuation changes could trigger larger simultaneous movements. For institutions, operational resilience—including managing transaction failures, maintaining ownership records and servicing assets during disruptions—will influence adoption.
Nasdaq chief executive Adena Friedman, speaking at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, said tokenizing instruments such as US Treasury securities, equities and money-market funds, along with the accompanying cash flows, would make collateral far more mobile and reusable. She estimated that the shift could unlock tens of billions of dollars currently sitting idle while transactions clear through legacy systems. Friedman said the US GENIUS Act has given traditional players more confidence to experiment with programmable money, but warned that moving markets toward continuous 24/7 operation requires real-time risk and operational management, with artificial intelligence essential. Nasdaq has begun embedding digital agents into its risk-management tools and its venture arm has made a substantial investment in Kraken parent Payward to advance tokenized equity capabilities.
A CB Insights report produced with Money20/20, the TradFi-DeFi Market Map 2026, identifies 167 private technology companies across 15 categories supporting stablecoin issuance, crypto custody, permissioned institutional networks, tokenized deposits and fund tokenization. The report notes roughly $17 billion in tokenized real-world assets on R3’s Corda network, used by HSBC, Barclays and BNY Mellon. Stablecoin-as-a-service platforms rank near the top of the maturity index, while permissioned blockchain networks expand into repo markets, tokenized securities and public-chain interoperability. Equity funding into stablecoin ventures spiked in 2025, and spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products drew institutional capital earlier.
Tokenization is now being evaluated on whether it can deliver reliable ownership records, settlement finality and access to collateral across platforms and markets. The convergence of regulatory clarity, institutional infrastructure investment and private-company tooling points to a more fluid capital markets system, though liquidity thresholds, operational readiness and regulatory coordination remain challenges.
