Asset tokenization records claims on real or financial assets onto a programmable platform, merging the asset's record with the logic governing its transfer. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) defines the process as recording claims on real or financial assets that exist on a traditional ledger onto a programmable platform CITE:E1. BIS emphasizes that tokens are not merely digital entries in a database; rather, they integrate the records of the underlying asset with the rules and logic governing the transfer of that asset CITE:E1.
BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have each moved a money-market fund onto a public blockchain, using different structures. BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) invests in U.S. Treasuries, was tokenized by Securitize, launched in March 2024 as BlackRock's first tokenized fund issued on a public blockchain, and offers near real-time 24/7/365 peer-to-peer transfers CITE:E2. BlackRock announced on March 13, 2025 that BUIDL had surpassed $1 billion in assets under management CITE:E2.
Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX, token ticker BENJI) launched in 2021 on the Stellar network and was the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain as its official system of record CITE:E3. Franklin Templeton and the Stellar Development Foundation reported that, as of April 29, 2026, the fund's total assets under management — the full fund, not only its on-chain portion — reached $1.98 billion CITE:E3.
| Fund | Issuer / Tokenizer | Blockchain | Launch | AUM | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUIDL | BlackRock / Securitize | Public blockchain (unspecified) | March 2024 | $1 billion+ | March 13, 2025 |
| FOBXX (BENJI) | Franklin Templeton | Stellar | 2021 | $1.98 billion | April 29, 2026 |
Tokenization automates chains of financial transactions through programmability and bundling, cutting out settlement delays. BIS states that by combining programmability and transaction bundling — what it calls "composability" — tokenization integrates and automates sequences of financial transactions, eliminating delays and reducing manual interventions and reconciliations CITE:E5. BIS further notes that instantaneous settlement in central bank reserves reduces credit risk and ensures the singleness of money and payment finality CITE:E5.
Ripple and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) project the tokenized real-world asset market will expand from $0.6 trillion today to $18.9 trillion by 2033 CITE:E4. Their April 2025 estimate also puts an interim milestone at $9.4 trillion by 2030, implying a compound annual growth rate of about 53 percent CITE:E4. Ripple and BCG note this total includes stablecoins and tokenized deposits, not only funds like BUIDL and FOBXX CITE:E4.
| Year | Projected Tokenized Asset Market Size |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $0.6 trillion |
| 2030 | $9.4 trillion |
| 2033 | $18.9 trillion |
| CAGR (2025–2033) | ~53% |
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) says tokenization currently poses no material risk to financial stability because of its small scale, but adds that this could change if adoption grows significantly CITE:E6. In its October 22, 2024 assessment, FSB identifies specific vulnerabilities associated with DLT-based tokenization: liquidity and maturity mismatch, leverage, asset price and quality, interconnectedness, and operational fragilities CITE:E6.
Stablecoins are dollar-pegged tokens used for on-chain settlement, but BIS says they do not meet its bar for anchoring the monetary system. In a June 24, 2025 assessment, BIS states that stablecoins offer some promise on tokenization but fall short of the requirements to be the mainstay of the monetary system when measured against three tests: singleness, elasticity, and integrity CITE:E7.
The efficiency case BIS makes for tokenization — programmability, composability, and instant central-bank-reserve settlement CITE:E5 — is already visible in dollar terms at BlackRock's BUIDL and Franklin Templeton's FOBXX, which together hold roughly $3 billion in disclosed assets CITE:E2CITE:E3. That is a small fraction of the $9.4 trillion Ripple and BCG project for 2030 CITE:E4, which lines up with FSB's own caveat that tokenization poses no material systemic risk only because its scale remains limited CITE:E6. Whether that changes depends partly on the cash leg: BIS's finding that stablecoins fail its singleness, elasticity, and integrity tests CITE:E7 means the settlement-asset question inside BIS's own tokenization framework CITE:E1 is still unresolved even as fund-level tokenization advances.
Asset tokenization records claims on real or financial assets onto a programmable platform, merging the asset's record with the logic governing its transfer.
Tokenization automates chains of financial transactions through programmability and bundling, cutting out settlement delays.
Ripple and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) project the tokenized real-world asset market will expand from $0.6 trillion today to $18.9 trillion by 2033 CITE:E4.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) says tokenization currently poses no material risk to financial stability because of its small scale, but adds that this cou…
The gap between today's numbers and the Ripple/BCG forecast is the real story: BUIDL's $1 billion and FOBXX's $1.98 billion together are a rounding error against the $9.4 trillion projected for 2030, which means the current BlackRock and Franklin Templeton funds are early proof-of-concept, not the scaled market regulators are already writing rules for. FSB's own caveat — that tokenization poses no material risk only because of its small scale — is the metric worth tracking: if fund AUM keeps compounding toward that $9.4 trillion marker, the liquidity, leverage, and interconnectedness vulnerabilities FSB flagged stop being theoretical. The sharper tension is that BIS grades stablecoins as failing its own three-part monetary test while still calling tokenization's settlement mechanics efficient — a sign that the cash leg, not the asset leg, is where the framework is least settled.
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