Tokenised repo runs into the trillions each month, while retail stock tokens are measured in millions. Two industry voices explain where tokenisation of real-world assets works today, and where the pitch still runs ahead of the product.

Asset tokenisation has had a busy autumn. DTCC switched on its tokenisation service on 28 October 2026. A week earlier, Robinhood stock tokens went live as loan collateral. Yet the gap between headlines and usage is still wide, and it runs in a direction many pitches miss.

So we asked industry leaders one question: where is tokenisation of real-world assets, such as funds, bonds or deposits, delivering real value today, and where is it still mostly hype? We wanted first-hand experience with live products over commentary. Two respondents answered. Below, we set their replies against the latest data.

How big asset tokenisation really is

The size of asset tokenisation depends on who is counting. Tracker rwa.xyz showed around $38.6 billion of tokenised real-world assets on public chains in late September, excluding stablecoins. Tokenised Treasury and money market funds made up about $15 billion of that, spread across roughly 86,000 investors. Tokenised stocks stood at about $3.2 billion in early October.

The biggest number sits elsewhere. Broadridge says its distributed ledger repo platform processed $7.4 trillion in August 2026, or about $351 billion a day. That is wholesale plumbing, not a retail product. Even so, it is by far the largest live use of asset tokenisation.

Collateral is where tokens earn their keep

Our first respondent co-founded a trading app on Solana that offered tokenised US equities. He pointed to access and collateral as the real gains, and to 24/7 trading and yield as the hype.

“Tokenisation works when it lets someone reach an asset they couldn’t easily reach before, or put an asset to work somewhere it couldn’t go before. Tokenised US stocks for people outside the US who can’t find a local broker is a real job. So is borrowing against them. Since 25 September 2026, Aave V4 on Base has let eligible users outside the US borrow USDC against seven Coinbase stock tokens. On 22 October, Morpho went live with Robinhood Stock Tokens as collateral for stablecoin loans. Tokenised gold is the other proof point. CoinGecko’s 2026 report shows tokenised commodities grew from $1.43 billion at the start of 2025 to $5.55 billion by the end of March 2026, with two gold tokens, XAUT and PAXG, behind about 89% of that rise.

Where it’s still mostly hype is selling 24/7 markets on top of assets that are still priced on an exchange calendar. Aave’s equities market stays open all weekend, but the Chainlink price feeds it uses run from Sunday 8pm to Friday 8pm Eastern, so weekend news hits the loan all at once on Sunday night. ‘Always on’ is a marketing line until the pricing clock matches the settlement clock. Yield is the other hype zone. A lot of ‘make your asset earn’ products are lending the underlying asset to someone, and the counterparty risk sits in the documents, not next to the button.

My test for any tokenised product is to skip the yield number and read the redemption page. Moving an asset onchain is the easy part. The value shows up when the token can do something the original couldn’t, and the product is honest about what happens when someone wants out.”

Sunil Vallath, Product Leader and Founder, Fintech and Digital Assets

His figures on asset tokenisation as collateral check out. Aave’s launch post lists the seven Coinbase tokens, from Apple to Tesla, and CoinGecko’s RWA report confirms the gold numbers. However, much of that gold growth reflects the rising gold price rather than new demand for tokens. Scale is also modest. Early deposits of Coinbase stock tokens on Aave were under $5 million.

Institutions use asset tokenisation as collateral on a far larger scale. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Franklin Templeton’s Benji tokens already serve as margin on crypto exchanges. In September, CFTC staff said tokenised money market fund shares could be used as margin in US derivatives. The FCA and Bank of England have also named collateral mobility as the main near-term benefit in the UK.

Where the pitch runs ahead

His warning on 24/7 markets needs one update to the asset tokenisation picture since he wrote it. Chainlink launched round-the-clock pricing on 29 October, with Aave as a launch partner. However, weekend prices now come from futures markets, not the underlying shares, so his wider point still holds.

Legal rights are a second gap in retail asset tokenisation. Robinhood’s own annual report says its stock tokens give economic exposure without legal ownership or voting rights. As a result, a stock token is often a debt instrument or a claim on a special purpose vehicle, not a share.

Democratising access, in theory

Our second respondent made the familiar case for wider access.

“Tokenising real-world assets adds real value where liquidity and access matter most. Tokenised funds and property, for example, give individual investors smaller entry points and make fractional ownership simpler. That opens up markets such as private equity or high-value property to small investors.

Much of what we hear is still hype, though, especially where firms promote tokenisation without a clear use case or a path to scale. The biggest hurdle is meeting regulatory rules across jurisdictions while keeping trust. Without clear oversight, adoption will stay fragmented.”

Chantel, Manager of Operations, Good Clean Fundraising

The asset tokenisation data gives her hype warning more support than her access case. Tokenised real estate on public chains stood at only about $225 million across 96 assets at the start of November, according to rwa.xyz. Retail fractional property remains a small corner of asset tokenisation. Note that Good Clean Fundraising sells products for school and community fundraisers, so her view is that of an outsider rather than a practitioner.

Regulation is opening, but narrowly

Rules for asset tokenisation are moving, though not as far as some headlines suggest. The SEC’s innovation exemption, issued in September, lets certain permissioned US venues trade tokenised stocks for five years. It does not cover tokenised funds. Meanwhile, DTCC’s service runs under SEC relief that lasts three years, as our report on DTCC tokenisation going live explained.

Fund managers are moving into asset tokenisation too, and adding new products. Janus Henderson put a Nasdaq-100 fund onchain, and BitGo will distribute WisdomTree’s tokenised fund to institutional clients.

What to watch next

Several signals will test asset tokenisation in 2027. DTCC plans to add more blockchains, and its SEC relief sets a three-year clock. In the UK, the first digital gilt under the DIGIT pilot depends on HSBC Orion’s sandbox progress. Watch, too, whether weekend futures-based pricing holds up when a large stock moves on Monday morning.

Above all, the evidence points one way. Asset tokenisation is earning its keep as collateral and settlement plumbing. The retail promise of 24/7 everything is still waiting for prices, rights and redemption to catch up.

FintechBits covers payments, banking and fintech developments for readers in the US and UK. This article is for information only and is not financial or investment advice. Views expressed are those of the FintechBits editorial team.