This barometer provides a comprehensive overview of tokenisation in the first half of 2025, analysing the most advanced use cases (stablecoins, private credit, money market funds), key players, dominant infrastructures such as Ethereum, and regulatory hurdles, particularly in Europe.
Executive summary
👉 The global tokenisation market continues to grow, but remains marginal compared to traditional finance. In May 2025, tokenised money market funds will represent around $10 billion, compared with more than $10,000 billion for their traditional equivalents. A ratio of 1 to 1,000 that illustrates both the potential and the slowness of institutional adoption.
👉 Stablecoins are an exception. By surpassing Visa's annual transaction volumes, these dollar tokens show that tokenisation can rival established payment networks. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Société Générale are already testing use cases involving funds, bonds and stablecoins.
👉 Private credit is getting a new lease of life thanks to blockchain. Protocols such as Maple or Centrifuge provide access to structured loans for SMEs bypassing US Treasury circuits, which are increasingly prized in tokenised form by crypto investors.
👉Other segments are making little headway. Equities, real estate or corporate bonds remain few real estate assets are tokenised, while the real market is worth trillions.
👉On the infrastructure side, Ethereum maintains a clear lead with more than 50% of stablecoins issued on its network and nearly $7 billion of real assets tokenised. Layer 2s like ZKsync are taking over to meet scalability needs. TradFi is seizing on this to test 24/7 open markets, DeFi integration and automated settlements.
👉 In Europe, the ambitions are there but the levers are lacking. The regulatory framework exists, but the lack of a digital euro limits the completeness of the settlement-delivery chain. The United States, on the other hand, is accelerating, driven by giants such as BlackRock and JP Morgan. This barometer reveals a slow but real convergence. TradFi is experimenting, crypto is structuring, and the two worlds are adjusting. The promise is not substitution, but a more programmable, fluid and accessible form of finance. Provided that infrastructure, regulation and practices converge.
This barometer reveals a slow but real convergence. TradFi is experimenting, crypto is structuring, and the two worlds are adjusting. The promise is not substitution, but more programmable, fluid and accessible finance. Provided that infrastructure, regulation and practices converge.
A potential market of $30,000 billion by 2034
The state of tokenisation
Stablecoins put 90% of all token assets
With more than $231 billion in circulation, stablecoins literally crush all other tokenised asset classes. This dominance comes as no surprise: they are the cornerstone of the crypto ecosystem. As settlement tools in DeFi, hedging instruments against volatility, vectors of adoption in emerging economies, stablecoins play all the games. They alone account for more than 90% of the total value of RWAs. Behind this growth lies the institutionalisation of the sector, with the emergence of giants such as Circle from the crypto world, but also the arrival of more traditional banks and fintechs. The rise of USDC on channels such as Base or Solana, as well as Tether's offensive towards emerging markets, show just how global the battle for on-chain monetary dominance now is.
With $13 billion, private credit has the fastest growth
With $13 billion tokenised, private debt is emerging as the spectacular second class. Long confined to a circle of specialist investors, private credit is now undergoing a veritable revolution thanks to blockchain. Protocols such as Centrifuge, Goldfinch and Maple have made it possible to structure and blockchain trade receivables, loans to SMEs and even private bonds, by creating a direct link between DeFi investors and real-world borrowers. This movement is fuelled by a dual phenomenon: on the one hand, the search for yield in a high interest rate environment, and on the other, the desire of certain lenders to access new liquidity, often unavailable on traditional markets.
US treasury bonds, a promise still under-operated
The tokenisation of US Treasuries now stands at $6.7 billion, which is still modest on the scale of a global market valued at several tens of trillions. Yet there is growing interest in this segment. Players such as Ondo Finance, Backed and Matrixdock have launched products enabling crypto users to access secure sovereign returns, often higher than those offered by DeFi. In Europe, France's Spiko is doing well, offering products based on US and European bonds. The stakes in this category are twofold: on the one hand, to offer a credible alternative to non-interest-bearing stablecoins, and on the other, to enable institutions to reposition themselves, however held back by the legal complexity around securitisation and the licences needed to distribute such instruments internationally.
Commodities are building their nest on blokchciain
The commodities category now accounts for $1.47 billion, driven in particular by gold-backed tokens. These products, offered by Tether Gold (XAUT), Paxos Gold (PAXG) and the Swiss company MKS PAMP, appeal to a public seeking stability in an uncertain economic environment. Their success shows that physical assets can be attractive on the blockchain, provided they offer solid guarantees of safekeeping, convertibility and compliance. While gold remains the star, other commodities are beginning to emerge in tokenised form, such as oil or uranium, but these attempts remain experimental and often confined to private environments.
Alternative funds are trying to make their percentage
Still in its infancy, the tokenisation of institutional hedge funds has reached $473 million. This segment, which includes private equity, venture capital and infrastructure investment vehicles, is enjoying growing popularity. The arrival of protocols such as Securitize, Hamilton Lane and KKR in this universe opens the way to a partial democratisation of this type of asset, historically reserved for an elite. But regulatory barriers remain very high, as do requirements in terms of reporting, valuation of underlying assets and governance. The challenge here is clear: to combine transparency, compliance and efficiency, without distorting the closed nature of these products.
Tokenised equities, a timid game
With only $431 million, equities represent a negligible share of the RWA market. Yet the potential is immense. The ability to split shares in large companies, trade them 24/7 or integrate them into automated DeFi strategies could radically transform stock market investing. But experimentation remains cautious. Backed and Franklin Templeton have tried to tokenise shares in index funds or listed companies, often via regulated structures in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. The ecosystem is still waiting for a clear framework in the United States and Europe so that these initiatives can develop on a large scale.
Tokenised real estate remains to be built
Barely $70 million worth of real estate assets are currently tokenised on public channels. This figure pales into insignificance when compared with the sector's colossal weight in the real economy. There are many obstacles to overcome: the complexity of legal custody of assets, the diversity of land tenure systems, the natural illiquidity of the sector, etc. Despite this, pioneers such as Tangible and Brickken are exploring innovative models of fractional ownership or tokenised leasing. There is a long way to go, but the potential remains immense, particularly for democratising rental investment or facilitating property fundraising.
Corporate bonds at the bottom of the ladder
With just $15 million tokenised, corporate bonds are bringing up the rear. This is a paradox, given that these assets are so central to traditional portfolio management. However, their under-representation reflects technical (real-time valuation), regulatory (mandatory prospectuses) and commercial (few specialist players) obstacles. It will undoubtedly take the direct involvement of issuers - or a clear regulatory push - for this asset class to really emerge on the blockchain bandwagon.
Stablecoins stronger than Visa
Transaction volumes for stablecoins surpassed those of the giant Visa for the first time in 2024. A strong signal that confirms that these digital dollars, long confined to crypto marketplaces, are taking a growing place in global usage. Despite a calmer market environment, this data bears witness to a structural dynamic: stablecoins are becoming a genuine alternative to traditional payment networks.
Biggest stablecoin issuers
Tether, master of the game with $147 billion
Tether retains its dominant position with more than $147 billion in circulation. The iconic stablecoin, launched in 2014 and now available on more than fifteen blockchains, remains the undisputed benchmark for crypto markets, particularly in emerging zones. Despite recurring controversies surrounding the composition of its reserves, its lack of strict regulatory oversight, and often opaque communication, USDT stands out for its liquidity, universal compatibility and near-systemic role in the digital exchange infrastructure. The issuing company, Tether Limited, has transformed its historic base of small traders into a global empire rooted in the day-to-day practices of the crypto economy. Whether for cross-border transfers, settlements on DEX or safeguarding value in countries with rampant inflation, USDT remains, to this day, the currency of the blockchain.
Circle, the regulator's choice
On the other side of the coin, USDC, issued by Circle in partnership with Coinbase, boasts $59 billion in capitalisation. Long seen as the regulatory alternative to Tether, with reserves held entirely in US dollars and Treasuries, it is struggling to compete in terms of adoption. Circle has stepped up its efforts to increase transparency, obtain licences in several jurisdictions and extend the presence of its stablecoin through the ecosystems of Solana, Base, Avalanche and Polygon. But the momentum is less powerful than that of its historic rival. USDC is still widely used in the most serious DeFi applications, by institutional investors and in on-chain payment solutions. However, it lacks the agility of Tether, and is directly exposed to US regulations, which can sometimes scare off some international users. As Circle prepares its IPO, the question of its growth outside the US remains unanswered.
Challengers gain ground by playing differentiation
Facing the giants Tether and Circle, a series of new entrants are trying to shake up the established order with more innovative or specialised models. Ethena, with its USDe stablecoin, is already claiming nearly $4.8 billion in assets. Its approach, combining partial collateralisation and perpetual hedging strategies on derivatives markets, is attracting a growing base of DeFi users looking for yield and flexibility. For its part, USDS, issued by Sky (formerly Maker), capitalised on its multi-chain compatibility and a structure backed by Treasury bonds to reach $7.4 billion. FDUSD, launched by First Digital in Hong Kong, has a more traditional model but is backed by a solid banking infrastructure. It has raised $1.5 billion, mainly thanks to its massive presence on Binance. Lastly, PYUSD, PayPal's stablecoin, has reached a ceiling of $885 million despite its global reputation. It is undoubtedly paying for a timid launch, usage constraints linked to the PayPal universe, and still limited integration into the DeFi protocols.
Euro moves forwards, but still lags behind
Despite European ambitions and the gradual entry into force of the MiCA regulation, euro-denominated stablecoins are struggling to get off the ground. The most advanced is EURC, launched by Circle, which has 269 million dollars in circulation. Designed on the same model as the USDC, it benefits from a trusted framework and growing support in SEPA-compatible environments. However, the gap with dollarised stablecoins remains abysmal. Other initiatives such as EURCV, issued by Société Générale - Forge, are struggling to break the $50 million barrier. Projects such as AGEUR (Angle Protocol) are struggling to find an audience, often because of reduced liquidity, insufficient adoption by exchange platforms, or a lack of clear use cases (although its recent arrival in fintechs such as Bleap offers interesting diversification). While the European Central Bank (ECB) is increasingly active on the issue of digital currencies, the euro remains largely marginal in the global tokenised economy.
Tokenised money: huge room for progress
With just over $7 billion under management at the beginning of May 2025, tokenised money market funds are still a drop in the ocean of global finance. By way of comparison, their traditional equivalents - also invested in short-term Treasury bills - total almost $10.6 trillion globally, according to Fitch Ratings, a ratio of 1:1,500. But this contrast does not tell the whole story. It reflects less a lack of interest than a temporal gap between two worlds: on the one hand, an infrastructure that is decades old, framed,
standardised, and ubiquitous in corporate portfolios and treasury funds; on the other, a nascent innovation, driven by the promise of 24/7 liquidity, disintermediated access, and native programmability. It is not the nature of the assets that changes - a Treasury bond remains a Treasury bond - but the way in which they are held, traded and used. And in this respect, tokenisation opens up dizzying scope for progress. If on-chain players manage to capture even 1% of the market for traditional money market funds, that would already represent more than $100 billion to be injected into the digital economy.
The main tokenized money funds
BUIDL from Blackrock, the stars of token funds
With more than $2.85 billion under management, BUIDL, the tokenised fund launched by BlackRock in partnership with Securitize, has established itself in just a few months as the standard-bearer for traditional finance on the blockchain. Invested in short-term US Treasury bonds and paying daily interest, this money market fund enables qualified investors to earn a return of around 4%, while maintaining an Ethereum-compatible infrastructure and crypto wallets. Its success is a perfect illustration of the shift underway: BlackRock's entry into this segment has also triggered an equipment race among traditional asset managers, who are now looking to replicate this model.
BENJI, USDY, USTB: serious alternatives emerging
Behind the behemoth BUIDL, several mid-sized players are making rapid progress. The Benji fund ($763m), issued by Franklin Templeton, has been playing the tokenised management card for several years, and benefits from a proven infrastructure compatible with the public blockchain Stellar, but also with Polygon. USDY, an Ondo Finance product backed by short-term sovereign bonds (notably on Ethereum and Solana), and its integration into the DeFi platforms, already has USD 629 million in assets under management. For its part, USTB, highlighted by Matrixdock, claims $648 million, mainly from Asian users and institutional players keen to place stable, liquid reserves on the blockchain.
What about funds based on European bonds ?
For the moment, they shine above all by their discretion, even if the French company Spiko has taken the lead in this niche with €173 million in assets under management (while also offering products based on US bonds). The cause is twofold: more complex regulations for structuring tokenisation-compatible funds, and above all the lesser attractiveness of European sovereign bonds. These products could nevertheless gain in adoption due to the instability of US policy.
Tokenised private credit is making progress but is still only a drop in the ocean
Tokenised private credit weights only 0.6% less than its traditional equivalent
While the spotlight is on stablecoins, another dynamic is quietly taking shape in the world of tokenised real assets: private credit. Long the preserve of a handful of institutional players, this market of more than $2,000 billion worldwide is beginning to open up to decentralised finance thanks to tokenisation. In May 2025, around $12.9 billion worth of private loans were registered onchain. This is more than tokenised treasury bills ($6.2 billion), commodities ($1.4 billion) or equities ($484 million), but still represents only a tiny fraction - less than 1% - of global private credit. While growth has been rapid - +415% in one year - volumes remain modest in relation to the total private credit market. The latest report published by Centrifuge and Keyrock projects tokenised outstandings of between $12 billion and $17.5 billion by the end of 2026, depending on macroeconomic scenarios. In the best-case scenario, the momentum would be driven by the integration of credit products into DeFi, regulatory clarification and the entry onto the scene of traditional players.
Infrastructures already in place
Several projects are currently structuring this new frontier of tokenised credit. Figure dominates in absolute terms, with nearly $9.9 billion in loans outstanding, mainly in the form of Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) for US households. These assets are issued on Provenance, a dedicated blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK. Figure remains focused on a traditional customer base, but uses Web3 tools to optimise flows.
Tradable follows with around $1.8bn of institutional loans tokenised on ZKsync Era. Its assets cover a broader spectrum: financial receivables, intellectual property revenues or even asset-backed loans. Thanks to its zk-rollup architecture, Tradable targets an institutional audience from the outset by integrating confidentiality and compliance functionalities native to the blockchain.
Maple Finance, finally, embodies the bridge between a DeFi and private credit. Through its Syrup product, launched in 2024, the platform gives qualified investors access to returns from credit pools managed by delegatees. Maple is not yet opening its doors to the general public, but is already introducing a logic of semi-permitted liquidity to bypass regulatory restrictions while ensuring a minimum of transparency.
Strategic value more than an immediat growth relay
Beyond the numbers, the tokenisation of private credit is playing a strategic role. It allows us to test hybrid architectures combining off-chain assets and DeFi infrastructures, with one objective: to reduce intermediation costs, improve the transparency of flows and promote access to capital. In this sense, it is a valuable laboratory for more efficient finance, even if its adoption remains largely confined to institutional experiments for the time being. The coming years will be decisive in determining whether tokenised private credit can move beyond its role as a technological showcase to become a genuine lever for transforming credit markets.
The main technology players
SECURITIZE
With $4 billion in assets under management and more than 550,000 registered accounts, Securitize has established itself as the undisputed leader in the tokenisation of real-world assets. Licensed by the SEC as a broker, transfer agent and alternative trading system, the US platform ticks all the boxes of regulated finance... on blockchain. The crypto public really discovered Securitize in March 2024, when it was chosen by BlackRock to spearhead the launch of BUIDL, the largest onchain money market fund backed by short-term US Treasuries and capitalised at nearly $3 billion. Today, Securitize gives onchain investors access to a catalogue of 16 funds, covering a broad spectrum: from money market to private credit and private equity. The company is backed by heavyweights such as Blockchain Capital, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Hamilton Lane and Jump Crypto.
TRADABLE
Still little known to the general public, Tradable is nonetheless establishing itself as one of the world's leading players in asset tokenisation. This American company, founded to bring traditional finance closer to the Web3, has already digitised the equivalent of $1.7 billion in assets, mainly in institutional-quality private credit positions. This makes it the third largest tokenisation platform for real-world assets (RWAs), behind giants such as Ondo and Superstate. Its ambition is to enable traditional asset managers to migrate their investment strategies on-chain, based on ZKsync, a new-generation blockchain technology designed to combine confidentiality, efficiency and scalability. Its backers include such heavyweights as Victory Park Capital, Janus Henderson, Matter Labs, Spring Labs and ParaFi Capital, which recently acquired a stake in the company. Thanks to an infrastructure that facilitates the issuance and distribution of tokenised securities, Tradable aims to democratise access to financial products hitherto reserved for an elite, by connecting asset managers, regulated trading platforms and new Web3 channels. A key building block in the construction of tokenised finance.
MAPLE FINANCE
Maple is a decentralised platform that connects institutional borrowers and lenders via fully managed on-chain credit pools. Since 2021, it has facilitated more than $2.5 billion in loans, positioning itself in the tokenised private credit segment. Its model is based on pool delegates who assess the risk and set the financing terms. In July 2024, Maple launched "Syrup", an evolution of its infrastructure aimed at opening up access to its credit products more widely, with stable returns and management without prior authorisation.
ONDO FINANCE
With more than $1 billion in custody, Ondo Finance has established itself as the leading crypto-native platform for tokenising Treasury bills. Its flagship products, USDY and OUSD, dubbed yieldcoins, offer yield exposure to traditional assets directly via the blockchain. But Ondo has no plans to stop there. With the announced launch of Ondo Global Markets, the protocol intends to expand its offering by giving investors onchain access to a wider range of public securities: equities, bonds and ETFs. Only verified investors based outside the US will be able to create or redeem tokens, but they will remain free to circulate on secondary markets, guaranteeing the DeFi composability dear to the Ondo ecosystem. All the assets in this new range will be issued natively on Ondo Chain, a level 1 blockchain designed specifically to build onchain institutional financial markets. "Bridged" versions will also be available on the main Ondo-compatible chains.
SUPERSTATE
Famous for founding the DeFi Compound protocol, American entrepreneur Robert Leshner now wants to revolutionise stock markets with Superstate. After carving out a niche for itself in the tokenisation of traditional assets - via its USTB ($651m under management) and USCC ($100m) funds, backed by Treasury bonds and crypto strategies respectively - the New York-based company is moving up a gear. It is launching Opening Bell, a platform that will enable companies to issue and trade SEC-registered public shares... directly on the blockchain. The aim is ambitious: to create a new stock market infrastructure, open 24/7, integrated with decentralised finance tools, and accessible to both institutional investors and the general public, subject to identity verification. The first step will be the launch this summer (subject to regulatory approval) of SOL Strategies shares on Solana. The idea is not new - tZERO and FTX have already tried their hand at it - but this time Leshner is banking on a solid legal framework, and on a generation of "crypto-first" investors to give rise to what he calls Internet capital markets.
KRAKEN
Kraken, historically renowned for its cryptocurrency exchange, will soon extend its offering to US equities and ETFs. International investors (outside the US) will be able to invest via xStocks: tokenised versions of more than 11,000 popular stocks and ETFs, such as Apple, Tesla or the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. These tokens, issued on the Solana blockchain, will be backed by real shares held by Backed Finance. This initiative aims to provide seamless access to US markets, while reducing traditional settlement fees and times. Kraken is actively working with international regulators to ensure the compliance of this offering.
Players that matter in Europe
21X [Germany]
Based in Frankfurt, 21X is establishing itself as one of the most structured tokenisation players in Europe. In early 2024, the fintech became the first to obtain a full licence under the European Pilot Regime, allowing it to operate a trading and settlement system on public blockchain - in this case Polygon. This infrastructure, which complies with BaFin regulatory requirements, gives professional investors access to tokenised financial instruments traded directly from their wallets. The first product to be launched is USMO, a debt instrument backed by a UBS money market fund, issued by Black Manta Capital with the support of SBI Digital Markets.
LISE [France]
Lise, a new initiative spearheaded by the Kriptown team, aims to fill a structural gap in the financing of European SMEs and ETIs. By combining asset tokenisation with an innovative regulatory framework, this future market infrastructure aims to simplify access to capital for companies that are often too far removed from the stock market. Lise is targeting IPOs of strategic companies in sectors such as energy and industry, with the aim of making the process smoother, more affordable and better adapted to the needs of these companies. Currently in the process of being approved as a DLT Trading and Settlement System, Lise is positioning itself as a relevant player in tokenisation in Europe, reconciling financing for the real economy and blockchain infrastructures.
BACKED FINANCE [Switzerland]
Backed Finance, a Swiss fintech, provides access to shares, bonds or ETFs in the form of fully collateralised ERC-20 tokens. Its products comply with the Swiss regulatory framework and are designed to integrate with DeFi protocols. By joining forces with the 21X platform at the beginning of 2024, Backed is now facilitating the trading of its assets on an infrastructure that is compatible with the European Pilot Regime. Its offering is of interest to professional investors wishing to combine traditional assets and blockchain infrastructure in a regulated framework.
BÖRSE STUTTGART [Germany]
Boerse Stuttgart Digital, the digital arm of the Börse Stuttgart Group, has established itself as a structuring player in the European digital asset ecosystem. Launched in 2019 with BSDEX, Germany's first regulated crypto-asset trading platform, the company has gradually expanded its offering to meet the needs of institutional investors and banks. At the same time, Boerse Stuttgart Digital has expanded its presence in Switzerland with BX Digital, a tokenised asset trading and settlement platform recently approved by FINMA. The initiative aims to facilitate transactions in tokenised financial securities, such as equities, bonds and funds, using the Ethereum blockchain for direct asset transfers without intermediaries.
SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE - FORGE [France]
The Société Générale Group's crypto subsidiary develops digital asset solutions for institutional investors. Since 2019, SG-Forge has been designing tokenised financial products, such as bonds, structured products and stablecoins, based on public blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana. In 2023, SG-Forge launched the EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), a MiCA-compliant euro-backed stablecoin designed to facilitate onchain settlements for corporates and financial institutions. More recently, the company plans to introduce a US dollar-backed stablecoin on Ethereum, aiming to meet the growing demand for regulated digital solutions in Europe.
TOKENY [Luxembourg]
Founded in 2017 in Luxembourg, Tokeny has established itself as a leading provider of compliant tokenisation solutions for financial institutions. Thanks to its infrastructure based on the ERC-3643 (Ethereum) standard, the company has already enabled the tokenisation of more than €32 billion in assets. Its offering covers the entire lifecycle of digital securities: onboarding, token allocation, KYC/AML compliance and distribution on blockchain networks. The gradual entry of Apex Group into its capital, with a full takeover planned within three years, marks a new step to accelerate the institutional adoption of tokenisation on a global scale.
TAURUS [Switzerland]
Founded in 2018 in Geneva, Taurus has established itself as a structuring player in tokenisation in Europe. Authorised by FINMA, the fintech offers a complete suite of solutions covering the issuance, custody, blockchain connectivity and exchange of digital assets via its TDX marketplace. Taurus works with major institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Pictet and Crédit Suisse, and its technology is compatible with several public blockchains, including Ethereum, Stellar and Tezos. Since 2024, the TDX platform has also been accessible to retail investors, a sign of Taurus' ambition to open up tokenisation to a wider audience while remaining within a regulated framework.
SPIKO [France]
In just a few months, Spiko has established itself as a rising reference in asset tokenisation in Europe. Founded by two former public officials, in 2024 the company launched the first tokenised money market fund, fully backed by the sovereign bonds of major eurozone countries. It has also launched a similar product based on US Treasury bonds. These products, which are liquid, regulated and technically innovative, offer daily access to returns and smooth transferability of units. With more than €220 million in outstandings and 700 corporate customers, Spiko reached a new milestone in April 2025 thanks to a direct equity subscription from Bpifrance, proof of the strength of its model.
Ethereum undisputed champion
As of May 2025, the geography of stablecoins on blockchain remains dominated by Ethereum, which accounts for 55% of total capitalisation, far ahead of its competitors. The historical blockchain retains its central position for issuing and circulating stablecoins, thanks to its integration into the DeFi protocols and its institutional recognition.
In second place, TRON captures 31% of the market, driven by the massive use of USDT in emerging zones and on offshore platforms, where speed and low fees take precedence over decentralisation.
Behind these two giants, Solana reaches 5%, thanks to its compatibility with stablecoins such as USDC and USDT. The other chains, such as Binance Smart Chain (2.3%), Arbitrum (2.1%) and Base (1.7%), are making slow progress, illustrating a trend towards a multi-chain model.
Ethereum: central place in tokenization
Even without including stablecoins - which would be worth several hundred billion dollars - Ethereum dominates the market for tokenised real assets with almost $6.9 billion. This supremacy can be explained by the network's long history, its ultra-mature ecosystem and, above all, its compatibility with institutional infrastructures. Protocols such as Ondo Finance, Matrixdock, Franklin Templeton and Backed Finance use Ethereum as an anchor for issuing fund shares, treasury bills and tokenised bonds. Despite high transaction costs, issuer confidence remains high. Ethereum remains the technical and regulatory foundation for the first wave of institutional tokenisation.
ZKSync: Reference Layer 2 for RWA
With $2.24 billion in RWA assets excluding stablecoins, ZKsync confirms its strategic role as Layer 2 dedicated to tokenised finance. A large part of this amount comes from the partnership with Tradable, which contributed $1.7 billion in January 2025. Thanks to zk-rollups, ZKsync combines the security of Ethereum with lower fees and higher performance, illustrating the growing maturity of L2s for use cases related to real assets.
Stellar and Algorand in embuscade
With $506 million for Stellar and $359 million for Algorand, these two networks are showing a notable presence, particularly in regulatory-heavy initiatives. Stellar, originally designed for international payments, is attracting issuers of digital securities and regulated stablecoins, particularly in emerging markets. Franklin Templeton uses it extensively. Algorand, for its part, relies on an efficient technical architecture and a strategy clearly geared towards public and private institutions.
Solana, Polygon, Aptos, Arbitrum: The battle of performing L1s and L2s
Several high-performance, mass-market networks are beginning to capture a significant share of non-stablecoin tokenisation. Solana (315 million) and Polygon (287 million) are favoured for their speed and low cost. Polygon, in particular, remains the playground for institutions friendly to the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Franklin Templeton and Circle, which want to distribute their products on a less expensive layer. Aptos, with €345 million, is surprisingly growing in power: a spin-off from Meta's Libra/Diem project, this network is attracting institutional financial projects attracted by its security and verifiability-oriented programming language. Arbitrum, meanwhile, has passed the 232 million mark, and remains one of the most credible Layer 2s to eventually host complete market infrastructures.
Interoperability now necessayry
This landscape confirms a structural trend: tokenisation is no longer based on a single network, but on a functional multichain logic. Ethereum is still essential for the most regulated assets. Layer 2s like ZKsync and Arbitrum are taking over for scalability. And other blockchains are finding their place in specific geographical areas, or in alternative asset classes. This fragmentation is not an obstacle, but a condition for expansion: as real assets migrate to blockchain, a whole differentiated mapping of infrastructures takes shape - where each chain becomes a pipe tailored to a particular need, jurisdiction or player.
"As long as the digital euro does not exist, tokenisation will not take off in Europe"
The Big Whale: What is the state of regulation on tokenisation in France and Europe?
Louis Degeorges: What is known as "tokenisation" refers to the registration of financial securities (shares, bonds and fund units) in a blockchain (or, legally, a "shared electronic recording device" - DEEP). France was one of the pioneering countries in this field, with, as early as 2017, the so-called "Blockchain" ordinance and then decree (in 2018), which allow the registration of unlisted financial securities in a DEEP. This pioneering framework preceded the adoption at European level of a regime governing the tokenisation of listed securities, as called for by the AMF, with the definitive entry into force in March 2023 of the so-called "Pilot Regime" regulation. Presented as innovative and experimental, this regulation, which provides temporary exemptions for certain market infrastructures from the rules applicable to trading and settlement of financial instruments (provided for in MiFID II and CSDR, for example), aims to promote the registration of financial instruments using distributed ledger technology (known as "DLT") and their settlement. In other words, the idea is to test what decentralised finance would look like within the somewhat lighter European regulatory framework.
This pilot scheme was meant to be a revolution. Yet few infrastructures have been authorised to date. Why so little commitment?
To date, only three DLT market infrastructures have been authorised. There are several possible reasons for this. Firstly, as mentioned, authorisation from the ACPR or AMF (depending on the type of DLT market infrastructure) is required to operate a DLT market infrastructure, including for existing players. New entrants wishing to be authorised to operate a DLT market infrastructure can only benefit from the exemptions provided for in the Pilot Regime if they comply with requirements specific to DLT infrastructures and compensatory measures. Secondly, the scope of eligible financial instruments has been deliberately restricted. For example, units in alternative investment funds (AIFs) are not included in the scope of the regulation. In addition, the volume of DLT financial instruments issued is subject to ceilings set by the Pilot Regime. Once again, the Pilot Regime is intended to be primarily experimental. Lastly, settlement remains the weakest link.
The use of electronic money tokens (the issuance of which is now governed by MiCA) for settlement is only a derogation since the Pilot Regime stipulates that settlement of DLT financial instruments must first and foremost be carried out in central bank money, including in tokenised form.
Thus, in the absence of a wholesale digital euro, the settlement-delivery chain for fully tokenised DLT financial instruments remains incomplete... The AMF and CONSOB (the Italian regulator) recently published a study in which they mention a few avenues to promote the implementation of the Pilot Regime and remedy some of these obstacles.
Why are existing stablecoins not sufficient?
One example is those issued by Forge, the subsidiary of Société Générale. As mentioned, the Pilot Regime Regulation provides for the possibility of using stablecoins (in the form of electronic money tokens) for the settlement-delivery of DLT financial instruments. However, there are two regulatory obstacles: MiCA, which now governs the issuance of these electronic tokens. The provisions of the Pilot Regime Regulation mentioned above: to use these stablecoins for the settlement-delivery of tokenised financial securities, an exemption must be applied for. Consequently, in the absence of a central bank digital currency, tokenisation will not really take off. And as the digital euro is unlikely to see the light of day before 2028 or 2029, we'll have to wait a little longer.
In the meantime, the United States are accelerating.
BlackRock, JP Morgan, they're all getting to grips with the subject. Isn't Europe in danger of being left behind? That's a bit of a paradox. In France, the regulatory framework allows the tokenisation of financial securities such as shares or fund units. But the impetus seems to come more from the American private sector than from European players. There are a few projects in Europe, notably among certain asset managers who want to tokenise fund shares, but they remain marginal compared with what is happening across the Atlantic. The challenge for us in the EU now is to move from this experimental phase to an industrialisation phase. Beyond the regulatory aspects, there is probably a cultural difference between the European and North American markets that means we are still in an observation phase. It's a safe bet that this trend will be reversed with the arrival of the digital euro, although let's hope we don't fall too far behind our competitors.
What is the interest for an investor in holding a tokenised security?
First of all, it's disintermediation and all the advantages associated with using the blockchain: reduced costs, operational security, confidentiality, automated order management... But the interest goes much further. For example, by tokenising securities, we make them interoperable with the entire ecosystem of decentralised finance (DeFi). In concrete terms, a tokenised share of a fund or bond can be used as collateral, traded peer-to-peer, or integrated into automated protocols. We are creating new uses for traditional assets. That's the promise: to bring traditional finance into the programmable world of blockchain.
What about real estate tokenisation, what exactly are we tokenising?
I'm thinking mainly of funds that hold real estate assets. In this case, it is the shares in these funds that are then tokenised. Note that this does not mean that ownership of the property asset is dismembered. The logic remains the same as for an investment via an SCPI: the difference is that, instead of being recorded in a securities account, the units of this SCPI are recorded in blockchain (in a DEEP), which produces exactly the same effects from the point of view of the ownership of these securities.
And for company shares, is it the same principle?
Exactly. The tokenisation of shares issued by companies follows the same logic as the tokenisation of fund shares: instead of being registered in a securities account, these shares are registered in blockchain. In the case of unlisted shares, the "blockchain ordinance and decree" regime applies. The Pilot Regime applies to listed shares.
You are in regular contact with clients who are considering tokenisation — how would you describe their appetite today?
The appetite is real, particularly among asset managers. Many are working on projects to tokenise fund units or fund assets, with the aim, for example, of reaching younger, more digital clients, or experimenting with new distribution models.
What is missing for tokenisation to really take off in Europe?
Two essential things. Firstly, a digital euro. This is the missing link to enable fully tokenised processing of financial securities throughout the securities settlement-delivery chain. Next, we need to build the confidence of market participants in these technologies. This mainly involves making the European legal framework more flexible and raising market participants' awareness of the opportunities offered by these regulations. This is the purpose of the recent study by the AMF and CONSOB mentioned above.
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