Is the RWA Boom an Illusion? Experts React to Tokenization’s Liquidity Gap

The tokenized real-world asset market has reached more than $60 billion, but most of that value remains concentrated, restricted, or inactive on-chain.

BeInCrypto Intelligence’s Real State of Tokenization in 2026 report, built with market data from RWA.xyz, tracked more than 7,000 products across 12 asset classes. It found that just 62 assets hold 88% of the market value, while five products account for roughly half.

The activity gap is even sharper. Of 1,289 tokenized assets worth more than $100,000, only 910 assets representing $32.9 billion recorded zero weekly transfers.

Meanwhile, 97% of the market remains outside US retail access. BeInCrypto asked members of its Expert Council what these findings reveal about the state of tokenization.

Archax: Institutions Should Not Have to Choose a Chain

Graham Rodford, CEO and Co-Founder of Archax, said blockchain fragmentation is making institutional adoption harder than necessary.

“The fragmentation problem is real and it’s not going away,” Rodford said. “Every major asset manager we speak to is dealing with the same operational question: which chain do I pick, and what happens when the next one emerges? The honest answer is that they shouldn’t have to pick.”

Rodford argues that institutions need a regulated layer above individual networks. It would handle issuance, trading, custody, and settlement without tying firms to a single blockchain.

He also rejected the idea that public blockchains are automatically unregulated.

“What determines regulatory safety isn’t the chain – it’s the gateway.”

Theo: Dormant Assets Show a Half-Built Market

Iggy Ioppe, CIO of Theo, said the $32.9 billion in dormant value does not prove tokenization has failed. Instead, it shows that much of the market has stopped at representation.

“Wrapping an asset and parking it is ‘tokenization theater’. The real work is making tokens usable – as collateral, in DeFi, in live settlement.”

The report distinguishes between Distributed assets, which can move across public blockchain rails, and Represented assets, which mainly use blockchain as a digital record.

Around $27 billion of the dormant value came from Represented assets. Many were designed for recordkeeping and institutional settlement rather than public trading.

Still, Ioppe said the next stage will depend on whether tokenized assets can move, earn yield, settle around the clock, and connect to wider financial infrastructure.

“The assets are on-chain; the next phase is making them work.”

Sygnum: Regulation Could Create Regional Liquidity Silos

Fabian Dori, CIO of Sygnum Bank, said the market risks splitting into isolated pools as jurisdictions develop different rules and standards.

“A regulated asset bank can help prevent tokenized markets from hardening into isolated regional liquidity pools by acting as a compliant interoperability layer rather than trying to force one universal token across all jurisdictions.”

The report found that EU-regulated products account for only $3.3 billion, or 6% of the core market.

Dori’s argument is that regulated platforms must connect issuers and investors across chains while preserving local legal and compliance requirements.

WAODAO: Tokenized Assets Need a Liquidity Network

Aleksandr Cryptoved, Founder of WAODAO, said the report exposes the difference between putting an asset on-chain and creating a functioning market around it.

“The report’s $32.9B in assets with zero weekly transfer activity highlights the gap between tokenized existence and tokenized market activity.”

He proposed a “liquidity graph” in which tokenized assets connect through multiple smaller trading pairs rather than relying on one deep market against a stablecoin.

“In my view, the missing layer is a liquidity graph.”

Such a structure could generate activity through rebalancing, arbitrage, collateral movements, and institutional portfolio management.

Tokenization’s Next Test Is Usefulness

The experts differ on why so much tokenized value remains inactive.

Rodford points to blockchain fragmentation. Ioppe sees a market stuck at digital representation. Dori focuses on regulatory silos, while Cryptoved argues that tokenized assets need better liquidity connections.

Their conclusions converge on one point: issuing more tokens will not solve the market’s structural gaps.

The next phase depends on whether tokenized assets can move across networks, meet regulatory requirements, reach investors, and plug into real financial workflows.

The market has proved that assets can be recorded on-chain. It has not yet proved that most of them can function as active markets.

Read the full BeInCrypto Intelligence report.