Industry executives at Paris Blockchain Week pushed back against the idea that tokenization alone turns hard-to-trade assets into liquid markets. On a panel moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, speakers argued that putting private credit, real estate or other illiquid holdings onchain does not automatically create active secondary trading.
Oya Celiktemur, Ondo Finance sales director for EMEA, said a persistent misconception persists: “Tokenizing something illiquid will somehow magically make it a liquid asset, which is just not true.” She noted that assets such as real estate and private credit were never highly liquid to begin with, so mere digitization does not change fundamental market structure.
Francesco Ranieri Fabracci, head of tokenization expansion at Tether, made a similar point, noting that listing an asset onchain does not guarantee liquidity. He suggested a narrower set of instruments — bonds, money market funds and stablecoins — are better candidates to sustain regular liquidity when tokenized.
Their remarks come amid rapid growth in the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market, which has shifted industry attention from issuance volumes to whether tokenized products can develop meaningful secondary markets and broader distribution. Data from RWA.xyz shows the market expanding from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to roughly $29.9 billion on April 16, 2026, more than tripling in a year. Growth was concentrated in relatively standardized, widely traded assets: tokenized U.S. Treasury debt and commodities accounted for a large share.
By contrast, typically less liquid categories remain small in absolute terms despite strong percentage gains. Tokenized real estate climbed from about $35 million to $296 million, and private equity rose from nearly $60 million to $223 million. Asset-backed and corporate credit segments also increased, signaling rising issuance across more instrument types.
Panelists warned that rising outstanding value does not equal secondary-market liquidity: higher totals can reflect greater issuance even when trading remains thin. The conversation underscored that achieving liquid, open markets for tokenized RWAs requires more than onchain representation — it also needs standardized products, market makers, regulatory clarity and active trading infrastructure.