U.S. Urged to Strengthen Position in Tokenized Asset Market

According to Cointelegraph, the United States must establish a competitive edge in the realm of highly secure tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to maintain its standing in the evolving landscape of borderless, permissionless finance. This perspective was shared by Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov during an interview at the Digital Asset Summit in New York. Nazarov emphasized that blockchain technology, unlike previous technological advancements, is a global phenomenon driven by open-source software and distributed systems. Nazarov highlighted that the U.S. previously gained a competitive advantage through early adoption of online commerce, benefiting from a significant head start in internet infrastructure development. However, he noted that this advantage does not translate to the digital finance era. He stressed the importance of leveraging the U.S.'s strong domestic market and its capacity to create reliable financial assets. Nazarov believes that both the administration and legislators are beginning to recognize this necessity. The potential for real-world tokenized assets to become a $100-trillion market in the coming years was also discussed by Nazarov, as more global assets transition to blockchain. Data from RWA.xyz indicates that in 2025, the market for real-world tokenized assets, excluding stablecoins, reached an all-time high of $18.8 billion. Private credit dominated this market, with over $12.2 billion in tokenized private credit instruments. Asset tokenization offers the potential to enhance liquidity in traditionally illiquid asset classes, such as real estate, by removing the illiquidity discount associated with physical properties. Polygon CEO Marc Boiron previously noted that tokenizing real estate could fractionalize ownership, reduce intermediaries, and lower settlement costs, thereby transforming the sector. This transformation is evident in projects like Lumia Towers in Turkey, a 300-unit mixed-use commercial real estate development that utilized Polygon's technology for tokenization. The trend is also apparent in the United Arab Emirates, a leading property market globally, where proactive digital asset regulations are fueling a surge in tokenized RWAs. Institutional investors and developers are increasingly turning to tokenization as an alternative method for capital formation, further driving the market's growth.