New Report Says Tokenized Assets Could Hit $18.9 Trillion by 2033 — Here’s What That Means
Tokenization is turning into one of the most powerful trends in global finance.
According to a new report released on April 8, 2025, by Ripple and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the market for tokenized assets could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. That’s more than ten times the size of today’s market — and the growth could reshape how people buy, sell, and move assets.
So what’s tokenization?
It’s the process of putting real-world assets — like bonds, real estate, or carbon credits (or literally anything) — onto the blockchain. This lets people trade them digitally, without the need for banks or middlemen, while still being able to track ownership, settle transactions faster, and operate 24/7.
Now, the technology is finally catching up. Big names in finance like JPMorgan, BlackRock, and ABN AMRO are already running tokenization pilots or issuing tokenized products. Ripple and BCG say this space is “nearing a tipping point.”
How Big Could This Market Get?
The report lays out three growth scenarios: a conservative one ($12 trillion), an optimistic one ($23.4 trillion), and a middle-of-the-road figure of $18.9 trillion by 2033. That would mean 53% compound annual growth over the next eight years.
“Technology is ready, regulation is evolving, and foundational use cases are in the market,” said Martijn Siebrand, Digital Assets Program Manager at ABN AMRO, in the report.
What’s Driving This?
Ripple and BCG say the push is coming from places like. Government bonds and U.S. Treasuries, which are now being tokenized so companies can manage liquidity faster and more efficiently. Corporate treasurers can move idle cash into short-term government bonds directly from digital wallets, no middlemen needed.
Private credit, a once opaque and hard-to-access market, is now being opened up to more investors. Tokenization makes it easier to see pricing and allows for fractional ownership. Carbon markets, where tokenizing emissions credits could make tracking and trading cleaner and more transparent.
Tokenization also brings real savings. It can reduce the costs of bond issuance, streamline real estate investments, and make collateral easier to manage. According to the report, focused projects can be launched for under $2 million, and full-fledged integrations may cost up to $100 million for large institutions — a price that many are now willing to pay.
What’s Already Happening?
There are already some major real-world examples of tokenization in motion. BlackRock’s BUIDL, a tokenized U.S. dollar money market fund built with Securitize, has almost $2 billion in assets under management. It’s now being used inside DeFi (decentralized finance) applications.
JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform has processed over $1.5 trillion in tokenized transactions, with more than $2 billion in daily volume.
These are no longer experiments — these are real products with billions in flows.
But There Are Still Big Roadblocks
Ripple and BCG point out that tokenization still has a long way to go, with five key challenges slowing it down. First, the infrastructure is fragmented — different systems don’t work well together. Second, there’s limited interoperability, meaning tokens on one blockchain can’t easily move to another.
Third, regulation is unclear in many regions, creating confusion. Fourth, custody standards vary, so there’s no single trusted way to store digital assets. And finally, smart contracts are all over the place, with no standard format across the industry.
Many tokenized assets are also settling “off-chain”, meaning that while the asset is digital, the cash part of the transaction is still done the old-fashioned way — through banks. That defeats some of the benefits of going digital.
Also, secondary markets, where people can trade these tokenized assets like they do stocks on Nasdaq, haven’t really emerged yet. Without shared delivery-versus-payment (DvP) standards, it’s tough to get liquidity flowing across platforms.
Regulation is Catching Up, But Unevenly
Places like Switzerland, the EU, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have created clear rules for tokenized securities. But other key markets — including India and China — still lack direction. This makes it hard for firms that want to operate across borders.
Ripple and BCG divide the current market into three phases, phase 1 which has low-risk, familiar instruments like bonds and funds are tokenized. Phase 2, which has more complex assets like private credit and real estate enter the space and phase 3 which has full market transformation — including illiquid assets like infrastructure and private equity.
Most firms are in Phase 1 or 2, the report says. Getting to Phase 3 will require global coordination on rules and better digital infrastructure.
Ripple and BCG say tokenization could unlock trillions in value, lower costs, boost investor returns by up to $100 billion per year, and finally bring 24/7 markets into the real world.
TokenFi’s RWA Tokenization Module
TokenFi wants to make tokenization simple and accessible for everyone, not just big companies or tech experts.
The idea is to give people an easy way to turn their real-world assets — like property, businesses, or creative ideas — into digital tokens without any hassle.
With its upcoming RWA Tokenization Module, TokenFi promises a user-friendly platform where anyone can tokenize their assets in just a few clicks, with no technical skills or coding required. It will be as easy as setting up an online account, and TokenFi ensures the process stays compliant and straightforward.
