The tokenization trend, which involves issuing financial securities, like stocks and bonds, on the blockchain, continues to gather steam. According to a Dune dashboard, the niche now boasts a market capitalization of more than $220 million across six measured projects. Companies like Matrixport, Backed Finance, Ondo, and Franklin Templeton have all created ERC-20 tokens representing government bonds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Last month, Franklin Templeton tapped Polygon to host a tokenized version of its Nasdaq-listed OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). Elsewhere, Backed Finance launched a tokenized version of Coinbase’s stock on Ethereum. Most of the activity for these tokenized securities is taking place on Ethereum, Polygon, and Gnosis Chain, with Ethereum dominating the landscape.
Ondo and MatrixDock lead the market with respective shares of 61.4% and 32.1%. These two firms mainly focus on providing short-term U.S. government bonds that yield 4% to 5% due to the hike in benchmark interest rates by the Federal Reserve. They offer digital asset management tools, trading services, and financial products. Ondo also has a lending service called Flux, which allows users to put their ERC-20 securities token as collateral. So far, users have added bonds worth $41.2 million as collateral.
Backed Finance’s tokenized fixed-income bonds are accepted as collateral on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols like Angle and Ribbon Finance. The Swiss-based firm has collaborated with BlackRock to trade and own an ERC-20 version of the world’s largest asset fund manager’s ETF of over 400 companies in the S&P 500 index.
According to Backed Finance’s head of marketing Kit Popplestone, interoperability between tokenized assets and DeFi platforms unlocks significant opportunities for new products and makes lending more efficient. BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink also believes that tokenization of securities will form “the next generation for markets,” with advantages such as instantaneous settlement, reduced fees, and simpler integration in BlackRock’s business model.
This optimistic outlook is shared by Citi Bank analysts who, in a March 2023 report, noted that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenization would drive adoption. However, for this rapid growth to continue, regulatory clarity has to keep up. Popplestone underlines the need for consistency in regulation and the importance of tokens being interoperable and composable with DeFi.
Although the lack of regulatory clarity has restricted growth and adoption, demand for tokenized securities is only expected to rise as interest in central bank digital currencies and on-chain assets increases globally. The tokenization trend holds the promise of immense innovation, but achieving its full potential will require a regulatory landscape that can support and adapt to this new frontier in the world of finance.
Source: Decrypt
