Since increasingly institutions are investigating blockchain-based financing, some industry leaders say that Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAS) can outperform $ 30 trillion until the 2030s. Others throw doubts about this projection.
In June 2024, the Standard Charter Bank and Syn Pulses predicted that RWAS could reach over 30 trillion dollars by 2034. The story remained strong within the last a part of 2024, with some analysts expressing similar feelings.
In the Paris Blockchain Week 2025, a panel, which was moderated by CoinTelegraph's managing director Gareth Jenkinson, brought managers from your complete TOKENization ecosystem to debate the longer term of RWAS. The participants included Charles Adkins from Hedera, Dotun Rominiyi from the London Stock Exchange, Shy Datika from Inx, Steven Gaertner from Tiamonds and Securitize Chief Operating Officer Michael Sonnenhein.
While the bulk supported the estimate of $ 30 trillion, Sonnenhein expressed skepticism.
The truth behind tokenization and RWA panel. Source: Paris Blockchain Week
The certificate of Execs predicts a more conservative trajectory for RWAS
Sonnenhein, a former Grayscale investments CEO, said that tokenized assets may not reach the 30 trillion dollar mark. He argued that there are numerous “good systems” that already work for traditional assets:
“I just must say that there are obviously some really good systems for the time being that enable a few of these assets. So simply because it may well be token up doesn’t mean that this needs to be. And so I take it below the variety of US dollars.”
Although he’s a runaway in his predictions, Sonnenhein said that he was still optimistic at RWAS.
Sonnenshein said that the room will still see a big explosion of investors who won’t only see their wallets as a spot for crypto speculations, but in addition a “place where they are literally investing how their broker accounts or investment accounts are only nearly as good”.
Tokenization doesn’t translate well to represent the property ownership
Sonnenhein also questioned real estate as a primary application for RWAS.
In the United Arab Emirates, government agencies have taken steps to link tokenization with real estate. In January, the local real estate developer Damac signed a contract of 1 billion US dollars with RWA Blockchain Mantra to token real estate within the VAE.
While some put their money on tokenized real estate, Sonnenhein threw doubts in regards to the idea. “I might be the controversial one up here and just say I don't think that tokenization should focus your eyes directly on real estate,” he said through the panel.
While the chief recognized some great benefits of the tokenization of real estate, he argued that this didn’t result in the representation of property.
“I’m sure that there are every kind of increases in efficiency that will be activated using blockchain technology to eliminate middlemen and trustees and all forms of things in real estate. But today I believe what the Onchain economy is more demanding,” he added.
